The Facts on File Dictionary of Allusions - Green Valley High School

Pheidippides
370
elsewhere by the Argonauts. A white pheasant stalked
imperiously back and forth in front of the house.
Pheidippides See marathon.
Philadelphia lawyer (fi lbdelfeeb) A particularly
gifted, cunning lawyer. <strong>The</strong> phrase is an allusion
to a 1735 legal case of criminal libel that looked
so unpromising that only one barrister, a lawyer
from Philadelphia called Andrew Hamilton,
would agree to take on the defense. Against all
expectations, Hamilton rebutted the accusations
and secured his client’s acquittal. To be called a
“Philadelphia lawyer” was thus originally the
highest of compliments to make to a lawyer, but
it has since acquired a derogatory tone, signifying
a lawyer who is far too clever for his or her own
good. <strong>The</strong> defendant is going to need a clutch of
Philadelphia lawyers if he is going to wriggle out of
this one.
Philemon and Baucis (fbleembn, fi leembn; bahsis)
Archetypes of the generous, welcoming host.
According to Greek legend Philemon and Baucis
were an aged and impoverished Phrygian couple
who welcomed the disguised Zeus and Hermes
into their home after other richer people had
turned the gods away. In gratitude the two deities
saved the couple from a fl ood, turned their home
into a temple, and granted their desire that neither
of them should outlive the other. When the couple
died, the gods transformed Philemon into an oak
and Baucis into a linden tree, and their branches
entwined. Like Philemon and Baucis, the couple threw
their door open to the strangers, beckoning them to come
inside without delay.
Philip Marlowe (mahrlo) <strong>The</strong> epitome of a hardboiled
private detective. Philip Marlowe, who
made his fi rst appearance in the novel <strong>The</strong> Big Sleep
in 1939, was the creation of U.S. crime writer
Raymond Chandler (1888–1959). A cynical antihero,
he has a laconic sense of humor and a sense
of honor that made him a great favorite of both
readers and cinema audiences, especially when
played on screen by Humphrey Bogart. “She talked
as if she had taken on the mantle of Philip Marlowe,
a female arch sleuth for whom the teeming
underworld held no secrets” (Lisa Appignanesi,
Memory and Desire, 1992). See also big sleep, the;
chandleresque.
philippic (fblipik) An impassioned denunciation
of an enemy; a bitter tirade. <strong>The</strong> word refers to
the three scathing speeches made by the celebrated
Athenian orator Demosthenes (384–322
b.c.) to bolster re sis tance against the threats
posed to Athenian democracy by Philip II of
Macedon (hence the “Philippics”). Philip intended
to absorb Athens into his kingdom and, despite
the efforts of Demosthenes, eventually succeeded
in this ambition after defeating the Greeks at the
Battle of Chaeronea in 338. In 322 the Macedonian
ruler Antipater planned to kidnap Demosthenes
but was thwarted when his quarry escaped
to the island of Calauria and committed suicide
there before another attempt to capture him
could be made. <strong>The</strong> word was subsequently
applied to Cicero’s attacks (Philippics) on Mark
Antony in 44 and 43 b.c. and thereby entered into
general usage. “<strong>The</strong> talk, as usual, had veered
around to the Beauforts, and even Mr. van der
Luyden and Mr. Selfridge Merry, installed in the
honorary arm- chairs tacitly reserved for them,
paused to listen to the younger man’s philippic”
(Edith Wharton, <strong>The</strong> Age of Innocence, 1920). See
also appeal from philip drunk to philip sober;
demosthenic.