Parrhăsius

, a famous painter, son of Evenor of Ephesus, in the age of Zeuxis, about 415 years before Christ. He was a great master of his profe ion, and particularly excelled in strongly expre ing the violent pa ions. He was ble ed with a great genius, and much invention, and he was particularly happy in his designs. He acquired himself great reputation by his pieces, but by none more than that in which he allegorically represented the people of Athens with all the injustice, the clemency, the ficklene , timidity, the arrogance and inconsistency, which so eminently characterized that celebrated nation. He once entered the lists against Zeuxis, and when they had produced their respective pieces, the birds came to pick with the greatest avidity the grapes which ♦ Zeuxis had painted. Immediately Parr has i us exhibited his piece, and Zeuxis said, “Remove your curtain, that we may see the painting.” The curtain was the painting, and Zeuxis acknowledged himself conquered, by exclaiming, “Zeuxis has deceived birds, but Parr has i us has deceived Zeuxis himself”. Parr has i us grew so vain of his art, that he clothed himself in purple, and wore a crown of gold, calling himself the king of painters. He was lavish in his own praises, and by his vanity too often exposed himself to the ridicule of his enemies. Plutarch , These us ; Quomodo A doles cens Poetas Audire Debeat .— Pausanias , bk. 1 , ch. 28 .— Pliny , bk. 35 , ch. 10 .— Horace , bk. 4 , ode 8.――A son of Jupiter, or, according to some, of Mars, by a nymph called Philonomia. ♦ ‘Xeuxis’ replaced with ‘Zeuxis’