PHILOPCMEN, a celebrated general of the Achaean League, was born about 252 B.C., in Megalopolis, a city of Arcadia, in Peloponnesus, and from his very infancy discovered a strong inclination to the profession of arms. Having been nobly educated by Cassander of Mantinea, he was no sooner able to bear arms than he entered amongst the troops which the city of Megalopolis sent to make incursions into Laconia, and in these inroads never failed to give some remarkable instance of his prudence and valour. After signalizing himself in various services, he was appointed general of the Achaean forces, and applied himself to re-establish military discipline amongst the troops of the republic, strove to rouse the courage of his countrymen, and laboured to put them into a condition to defend themselves without the assistance of foreign allies. With this view, he made great improvements in the Achaean discipline, changing the manner of their exercise, as well as their arms, which were both very defective. After eight months of hard discipline, news reached him that Machanidas was advancing, at the head of a numerous army, to invade Achaia. He met the enemy in the territories of Mantinea, where a decisive battle was fought, about 204 B.C., in which the Achaeans were completely victorious. But what most contributed to raise the fame and the reputation of Philopomen was his uniting the powerful city of Lacedæmon to the Achaean commonwealth, by which means the Achaeans were en-
PHILOSOPHER'S STONE. Philosophy
There are several periodicals devoted to the discussion of philology: of these the most important are the Transactions of the Philological Society, published in London; and the Zeitschrift für vergleichende Sprachforschung, published at Berlin. (J. W. D.)
able to eclipse all the other states of Greece. (See ACHAEANS.) Philopomen attacked the Messenians, but was wounded, taken prisoner, and poisoned by the magistrates; and thus died one of the greatest heroes whom Greece or any other country had ever produced. Philopomen was called the last of the Greeks, as Brutus was afterwards styled the last of the Romans. (See ARMY.)
PHILOSOPHER'S STONE. See ALCHEMY.
PHILOSOPHY (φιλοσοφία, love of wisdom) is a term which is said to owe its origin to Pythagoras, who, disclaiming the presumptive title of σοφός, or sage, assumed by his predecessors, chose rather to designate himself as a φιλόσοφος, a lover of the σοφία,—as one who, though ardent in the pursuit of wisdom, yet could never properly arrogate to himself the possession of it. Cicero tells this story (Tusc. Quæst. lib. iv., cap. 3) on the authority of Heraclides Ponticus, who is, however, confessed to have been a fabulous writer. There was, however, a verb φιλοσοφῆν, to philosophize, in the time of Herodotus; and the term, as a distinctive epithet, was brought into general use by Socrates, to denote the science that is conversant about the causes and existence of things. Philosophical knowledge, in the widest acceptance of the term, is the knowledge of effects as dependent on their causes. And as every cause to which we can ascend is also an effect, it follows that it belongs to philosophy to trace up the series of effects till we arrive at causes which are not themselves effects, and have reduced them to the fewest possible number. It follows, therefore,
that philosophy may be defined as the science of first principles; and the term is now limited almost exclusively to the mental sciences.