PHÆTON, in fabuloſiſt history, was the ſon of the Sun, or Phœbus and Clymene, one of the Oceanides. He was ſon of Cephalus and Aurora, according to He-
fiod and Paufanias; or of Tithonus and Aurora, according to Apollodorus. He is, however, more generally acknowledged to be the ſon of Phœbus and Clymene. He was naturally of a lively diſpoſition, and a handſome figure. Venus became enamoured of him, and entrusted him with the care of one of her temples. This diſtinguiſhing favour of the goddess rendered him vain and aſpiring; and when Epaphus, the ſon of Io, had told him, to check his pride, that he was not the ſon of Phœbus, Phæton reſolved to know his true origin, and at the inſtigation of his mother he viſited the palace of the ſun. He begged Phœbus, that if he really were his father he would give him incontestable proofs of his paternal tenderness, and convince the world of his legitimacy. Phœbus received him with great tenderness, and ſwore by Styx to grant whatever he requeſted as a proof of his acknowledging him for his ſon. The youth boldly aſked the direction of the chariot of the ſun for one day. His father, grieved and ſurpriſed at this demand, uſed all his arguments to diſſuade him from the rash attempt; but all was in vain: and being by his oath reduced to ſubmiſſion to his obſtinacy, entrusted him with the reins, after he had directed him how to uſe them. The young adventurer was however ſoon ſenſible of his madness. He was unable to guide the fiery ſteeds; and looſing the reins, Jupiter, to prevent his conſuming the heavens and earth, ſtruck him with a thunderbolt, and hurled him from his ſeat into the river Eridanus or Po. His ſiſters Phœthufa, Lambetia, and Phœbe, lamenting his loſs upon its banks, were changed by the gods into black poplar trees; and Cyrenus king of Liguria, alſo grieving at his fate, was transformed into a ſwan.
The poets ſay, that while Phæton was driving the chariot of his father, the blood of the Ethiopians was dried up; and their ſkin became black; a colour which is ſtill preſerved among the greateſt part of the inhabitants of the torrid zone. The territories of Libya were alſo, they tell us, parched up, on account of their too great vicinity to the ſun; and ever ſince, Africa, unable to recover her original verdure and fruitfulness, has exhibited a ſandy country and uncultivated waſte. According to thoſe who explain this poetical fable, Phæton was a Ligurian prince, who ſtudied aſtronomy, and in whoſe age the neighbourhood of the Po was viſited with uncommon heats.