second of the seven deacons, was chosen by the apostles after our Saviour's resurrection. (Acts vi. 5.) This deacon, they say, was of Cesarea in Palestine. It is certain that his daughters lived in this city (Acts xxii. 8, 9.). After the death of St. Stephen, all the Christians, excepting the apostles, having left Jerusalem, and being dispersed in several places, St. Philip went to preach at Samaria (id. viii. 1, 2, &c.), where he performed several miracles, and converted many persons. He baptized them; but being only a deacon, he could not confer on them the Holy Ghost. Wherefore having made known to the apostles at Jerusalem, that Samaria had received the word of God, Peter and John came thither, and the Samaritans that were converted received the Holy Ghost. St. Philip was probably at Samaria when the angel of the Lord ordered him to go to the south part of the country, in the road that leads from Jerusalem to old Gaza. Philip obeyed, and there met with an Ethiopian eunuch belonging to Queen Candace, who had the care of her revenues, and had been at Jerusalem to worship God there (id. viii. 26, 27, &c.). He was then returning into his own country, and was reading the prophet Isaiah as he went along in his chariot. Philip, hearing the eunuch reading the prophet Isaiah, said to him, Do you understand what you read? The eunuch replied, How should I understand, except somebody explain it to me? He desired Philip therefore to come and sit down by him in the chariot. The passage the eunuch was reading is this: "He was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so he opened not his mouth." The eunuch then says to Philip, Pray, whom does the prophet speak of in this place? Is it of himself, or of some other? Then Philip began to instruct him concerning Jesus Christ. And having gone on together, they came to a fountain; when the eunuch said to Philip, Here is water, what hinders me from being baptized? Philip told him that he might be so, if he believed with all his heart. He replied, I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God. He then ordered the chariot to stop, and they both alighted and went down into the water, where Philip baptized the eunuch. Being come out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord took away Philip, and the eunuch saw no more of him. But Philip was found again at Azotus, and he preached the gospel in all the cities he passed through, till he arrived at Cesarea in Palestine. After this, the scripture does not inform us of any particulars relating to Philip. The modern Greeks say that he went to Tralles in Asia, where he founded a church, of which he was the apostle and bishop; and where he rested in peace, after performing many miracles. The Latins, on the contrary, say that he died at Cesarea, and that three of his daughters were there buried with him.

It is thought, that the eunuch converted by St. Philip was the first apostle of the Ethiopians; and that the Abyssines boast of having received the Christian faith from him.

Philip II. was the fourth son of Amyntas, king of Macedon. He was sent to Thebes as an hostage by his father, where he learnt the art of war under Epaminondas, and studied with the greatest care the manners and the pursuits of the Greeks. He discovered, from his earliest years, that quickness of genius and greatness of courage which afterwards procured him so great a name and such powerful enemies. He was recalled to Macedonia; and at the death of his brother Perdiccas he ascended the throne as guardian and protector of the youthful years of his nephew. His ambition, however, soon discovered itself, and he made himself independent about the year 365 before Christ. The valour of a prudent general, and the policy of an experienced statesman, seemed requisite to ensure his power. The neighbouring nations, ridiculing the youth and inexperience of the new king of Macedon, appeared in arms; but Philip soon convinced them of their error. Unable to meet them as yet in the field of battle, he suspended their fury by presents, and soon turned his arms against Amphipolis, a colony tributary to the Athenians. Amphipolis was conquered, and added to the kingdom of Macedon; and Philip meditated no less than the destruction of a republic which had rendered itself so formidable to the rest of Greece, and had even claimed submission from the princes of Macedon. His designs, however, were as yet immature; and before he could make Athens an object of conquest, the Thracians and the Illyrians demanded his attention. He made himself master of a Thracian colony, to which he gave the name of Philippoi, and from which he received the greatest advantages on account of the gold mines in the neighbourhood. These made it a very important capture. He settled in it a number of workmen, and was the first who caused gold to be coined in his own name. He employed his wealth in procuring spies and partisans in all the great cities of Greece, and in making conquests without the aid of arms. It was at the siege of Methone in Thrace that Philip had the misfortune to receive a wound in his right eye from the stroke of an arrow. In the midst of his political prosperity, Philip did not neglect the honour of his family. He married Olympias the daughter of Neoptolemus, king of the Molossi; and when, some time after, he became father of Alexander, the monarch, conscious of the inestimable advantages which arise from the lessons, the example, and conversation of a learned and virtuous preceptor, wrote a letter with his own hand to the philosopher Aristotle, and begged Philip begged him to retire from his usual pursuits, and to dedicate his whole time to the instruction of the young prince. Every thing seemed now to conspire to his aggrandizement; and historians have observed that Philip received in one day the intelligence of three things which could gratify the most unbounded ambition, and flatter the hopes of the most aspiring monarch: the birth of a son, an honourable crown at the Olympic games, and a victory over the barbarians of Illyricum. But all these rather increased than satiated his ambition: he declared his inimical sentiments against the power of Athens, and the independence of all Greece, by laying siege to Olynthus, a place which, on account of its situation and consequence, would prove most injurious to the interests of the Athenians, and most advantageous to the intrigues and military operations of every Macedonian prince. The Athenians roused by the eloquence of Demosthenes, sent 17 vessels and 2000 men to the assistance of Olynthus; but the money of Philip prevailed over all their efforts. The greatest part of the citizens suffered themselves to be bribed by the Macedonian gold, and Olynthus surrendered to the enemy, and was instantly reduced to ruins. Philip soon after defeated the Athenians, and made a greater number of them prisoners, whom he dismissed without ransom. Of this victory, the fruit of that excellent discipline which he had established in his army, the Macedonian phalanx had the principal honour. This was a body of infantry heavily armed, consisting commonly of 16,000 men, who had each of them a shield six feet high and a pike 21 feet long. (See PHALANX). The success of his arms, and especially his generosity after victory, made his alliance and a peace a desirable object to the people of Athens; and as both parties were inclined to this measure, it was concluded without delay. His successes were as great in every part of Greece: he was declared head of the Amphictyonic council, and was entrusted with the care of the sacred temple of Apollo at Delphi. If he was recalled to Macedonia, it was only to add fresh laurels to his crown, by victories over his enemies in Illyricum and Thessaly. By assuming the mask of a moderator and peace-maker, he gained confidence; and in attempting to protect the Peloponnesians against the encroaching power of Sparta, he rendered his cause popular; and by ridiculing the insults that were offered to his person as he passed through Corinth, he displayed to the world his moderation and philosophic virtues. In his attempts to make himself master of Euboea, Philip was unsuccessful; and Phocion, who despised his gold as well as his meanness, obliged him to evacuate an island whose inhabitants were as insensible to the charms of money as they were unmoved at the horrors of war, and the bold efforts of a vigilant enemy. From Euboea he turned his arms against the Scythians; but the advantages he obtained over this indigent nation were inconsiderable, and he again made Greece an object of plunder and rapine. He advanced far in Bœotia, and a general engagement was fought at Cheronea. The fight was long and bloody, but Philip obtained the victory. His behaviour after the battle reflects great disgrace upon him as a man and as a monarch. In the hour of festivity, and during the entertainment which he had given to celebrate the trophies he had won, Philip sallied from his camp, and with the inhumanity of a brute, he insulted the bodies of the slain, and exulted over the calamities of the prisoners of war. His insolence, however, was checked, when Demades, one of the Athenian captives, reminded him of his meanness, by exclaiming, "Why do you, O king, act the part of a Thersites, when you can represent with so much dignity the elevated character of an Agamemnon?" The reproof was felt; Demades received his liberty; and Philip learned how to gain popularity even among his fallen enemies; by relieving their wants and easing their distresses. At the battle of Cheronea the independence of Greece was extinguished; and Philip, unable to find new enemies in Europe, formed new enterprises, and meditated new conquests. He was nominated general of the Greeks against the Persians, and was called upon, as well from inclination as duty, to revenge those injuries which Greece had suffered from the invasions of Darius and Xerxes. But he was stopped in the midst of his warlike preparations, being stabbed by Pausanias as he entered the theatre at the celebration of the nuptials of his daughter Cleopatra. This murder has given rise to many reflections upon the causes which produced it; and many who consider the recent repudiation of Olympias, and the resentment of Alexander, are apt to investigate the causes of his death in the bosom of his family. The ridiculous honours which Olympias paid to her husband's murderer strengthened the suspicion; yet Alexander declared that he invaded the kingdom of Persia to revenge his father's death upon the Persian satraps and princes, by whose immediate intrigues the assassination had been committed. The character of Philip is that of a sagacious, artful, prudent, and intriguing monarch: he was brave in the field of battle, eloquent and dissimulating at home, and he possessed the wonderful art of changing his conduct according to the disposition and caprice of mankind, without ever altering his purpose, or losing sight of his ambitious aims. He possessed much perseverance, and in the execution of his plans he was always vigorous. He had that eloquence which is inspired by strong passions. The hand of an assassin prevented him from achieving the boldest and the most extensive of his undertakings; and he might have acquired as many laurels, and conquered as many nations, as his son Alexander did in the succeeding reign; and the kingdom of Persia might have been added to the Macedonian empire, perhaps with greater moderation, with more glory, and with more lasting advantages. The private character of Philip lies open to censure, and raises indignation. The admirer of his virtues is disgusted to find him among the most abandoned prostitutes, and disgracing himself by the most unnatural crimes and lascivious indulgencies which can make even the most debauched and the most profligate to blush. He was murdered in the 47th year of his age, and the 24th of his reign, about 336 years before the Christian era. His reign is become uncommonly interesting, and his administration a matter of instruction. He is the first monarch whose life and actions are described with peculiar accuracy and historical faithfulness. Philip was the father of Alexander the Great and of Cleopatra, by Olympias; he had also by Audace an Illyrian, Cyna, who married Amyntas the son of Perdiccas, Philip's elder brother; by Nicasipolis a Thessalian, Nictea, who married Cassander; by Philena a Larissæan. Larissaeian dancer, Arideus, who reigned some time after Alexander's death; by Cleopatra, the niece of Atalos, Caranus and Europa, who were both murdered by Olympias; and Ptolemy the first king of Egypt, by Arsinoe, who in the first month of her pregnancy was married to Lagos. Of the many memorable actions and sayings reported by Plutarch of this prince, the following are the most remarkable. Being present at the sale of some captives, in an indecent posture, one of them informed him of it; "Set this man at liberty (says Philip), I did not know that he was my friend." Being solicited to favour a lord of his court, who was like to lose his character by a just but severe sentence, Philip refused to hearken to the solicitation, and added, "I had rather that he be disgraced than myself." A poor woman was importuning him to do her justice; and as he sent her away from day to day, under the pretence that he had no time to attend to her petition, she said to him with some warmth, "Cease then to be a king," Philip felt all the force of this reproof, and immediately gave her satisfaction.—Another woman came to ask justice of him as he was going out from a great entertainment, and was condemned. "I appeal (exclaimed she)!" "And to whom do you appeal (said the king to her)?" "To Philip fasting." This answer opened the eyes of the monarch, who retracted his sentence. If he possessed any virtue, it was principally that of suffering injuries with patience. Demochares, to whom the Greeks gave the surname of Parrhesiastes, on account of his excessive petulance of tongue, was one of the deputies whom the Athenians sent to this monarch. Philip, at the conclusion of the audience, begged the ambassadors to tell him, "if he could be of any service to the Athenians?" to which Demochares gave an insolent return, which he forgave. Having learned that some Athenian ambassadors charged him, in full assembly, with atrocious calumnies: "I am under great obligations (said he) to those gentlemen, for I shall henceforwards be so circumspect in my words and actions, that I shall convict them of falsehood." One saying of Philip, which does him less honour than those we have before mentioned, was, "Let us amuse children with playthings, and men with oaths." This abominable maxim, which was the soul and spring of his politics, gave rise to the observation, "That he was in full length, what Louis XI. afterwards was in miniature." It is well known that Philip had a person about him, who called out at times, "Philip, remember that thou art mortal;" but whether we should place this to the account of his pride or his humility, it is difficult to say.

Philip V. was king of Macedonia, and son of Demetrius. His infancy, at the death of his father, was protected by Antigonus, one of his friends, who ascended the throne, and reigned for 12 years, with the title of Independent monarch. When Antigonus died, Philip recovered his father's throne, though only 15 years of age, and he early distinguished himself by his boldness and his ambitious views. He came to the throne in the year 220 before our Saviour, and the beginning of his reign was rendered glorious by the conquests of Aratus; a general who was as eminent for his love of justice as his skill in war. But so virtuous a character could hardly fail to be disagreeable to a prince who wanted to indulge himself in every species of dissipation and vice; and indeed his cruelty to him soon displayed his character in its true light; for to the gratification of every vice, and every extravagant propensity he had the meanness to sacrifice this faithful and virtuous Athenian. Not satisfied with the kingdom of Macedonia, Philip aspired to become the friend of Hannibal, and wished to share with him the spoils which the distresses and continual loss of the Romans seemed soon to promise. But his expectations were frustrated; the Romans discovered his intrigues; and though weakened by the valour and artifice of the Carthaginian, yet they were soon enabled to meet him in the field of battle. The consul Livius entered without delay his territories of Macedonia; and after he had obtained a victory over him near Apollonia, and reduced his fleet to ashes, he compelled him to sue for peace. This peaceful disposition was not permanent; and when the Romans discovered that he had assisted their formidable enemy Hannibal with men and money, they appointed T. Q. Flaminius to punish his perfidy, and the violation of the treaty. The Roman consul, with his usual expedition, invaded Macedonia; and in a general engagement, which was fought near Cynocephale, the hostile army was totally defeated, and the monarch saved his life with difficulty by flying from the field of battle. Destitute of resources, without friends either at home or abroad, Philip was obliged to submit to the mercy of the conqueror, and to demand peace by his ambassadors. It was granted with difficulty; the terms were humiliating; but the poverty of Philip obliged him to accept the conditions, however disadvantageous and degrading to his dignity. In the midst of these public calamities, the peace of his family was disturbed; and Perseus, the eldest of his sons by a concubine, raised seditions against his brother Demetrius, whose condescension and humanity had gained popularity among the Macedonians, and who from his residence at Rome, as an hostage, had gained the good graces of the senate, and by the modesty and innocence of his manners had obtained forgiveness from that venerable body for the hostilities of his father. Philip listened with too much avidity to the false accusations of Perseus; and when he heard it asserted that Demetrius wished to rob him of his crown, he no longer hesitated to punish with death so unworthy and so ungrateful a son. No sooner was Demetrius sacrificed to credulity, than Philip became convinced of his cruelty and rashness; and to punish the perfidy of Perseus, he attempted to make Antigonus, another son, his successor on the Macedonian throne. But he was prevented from executing his purpose by death, in the 42d year of his reign, 178 years before the Christian era. The assassin of Demetrius succeeded his father, and with the same ambition, with the same rashness and oppression, renewed the war against the Romans, till his empire was destroyed, and Macedonia became a Roman province. Philip has been compared with his great ancestor of the same name; but though they possessed the same virtues, the same ambition, and were tainted with the same vices, yet the father of Alexander was more sagacious and more intriguing, and the son of Demetrius was more suspicious, more cruel, and more implacable; and, according to the pretended prophecy of one of the Sybils, Macedonia was indebted to one Philip for her rise. Philip, rise and consequence among nations, and under another Philip she lamented the loss of her power, her empire, and her dignity.

Ibid. Philip, M. Julius, a Roman emperor, of an obscure family in Arabia, from whence he was surnamed Arabian. From the lowest rank in the army he gradually rose to the highest offices; and when he was made general of the praetorian guards, he assassinated Gordian, to make himself emperor. To secure himself on the imperial throne, he left Mesopotamia a prey to the continual invasions of the Persians, and hurried to Rome, where his election was universally approved by the senate and the Roman people. Philip rendered his cause popular by his liberality and profusion; and it added much to his splendour and dignity, that the Romans during his reign commemorated the foundation of their city; a solemnity which was observed but once every 100 years, and which was celebrated with more pomp and more magnificence than under the preceding reigns. The people were entertained with games and spectacles; the theatre of Pompey was successively crowded during three days and three nights; and 2000 gladiators bled in the circus at once, for the amusement and pleasure of a gazing populace. His usurpation, however, was short. Philip was defeated by Decius, who had proclaimed himself emperor in Pannonia; and he was assassinated by his own soldiers near Verona, in the 45th year of his age; and the 5th of his reign. His son, who bore the same name, and who had shared with him the imperial dignity, was also massacred in the arms of his mother. Young Philip was then in the 12th year of his age, and the Romans lamented in him the loss of rising talents, of natural humanity, and endearing virtues.

Ibid. Philip, a native of Acarnania, physician to Alexander the Great. When that monarch had been suddenly taken ill, after bathing in the Cydnus, Philip undertook to remove the complaint, when the rest of the physicians believed that all medical assistance would be ineffectual. But as he was preparing his medicine, Alexander received a letter from Parmenio, in which he was advised to beware of his physician Philip, as he had conspired against his life. The monarch was alarmed; and when Philip presented him the medicine, he gave him Parmenio's letter to peruse, and began to drink the potion. The serenity and composure of Philip's countenance, as he read the letter, removed every suspicion from Alexander's breast, and he pursued the directions of his physician, and in a few days recovered.

There were, besides, a vast number of persons of this name in antiquity, and many of them were very eminent.