Euphorbus
- Son of Panthus, a brave Trojan, whose soul Pythagoras asserted had descended to himself, through the process of transmigration, Ov. M. 15, 161; Gell. 4, 11 fin.—
- II A celebrated Greek physician, after whom was named the plant euphorbea; cf. Plin. 5, 1, 1, § 16.
(Εὔφορβος), a son of Panthous and brother of Hyperenor, was one of the bravest among the Trojans. He was the first who wounded Patroclus, but was afterwards slain by Menelaus (Hom. Il. 16.806, 17.1_60), who subsequently dedicated the shield of Euphorbus in the temple of Hera, near Mycenae. (Paus. 2.17.3.) It is a well known story, that Pythagoras asserted that he had once been the Trojan Euphorbus, that from a Trojan he had become an Ionian, and from a warrior a philosopher. (Philostr. Vit. Apoll. 1.1, Heroic. 17; Diog. La6rt. 8.4; Ov. Met. 15.161.) [L.S]
(Εὔφορβος), physician to Juba II., king of Mauretania, about the end of the first century B. C., and brother to Antonius Musa, the physician to Augustus. [Musa.] Pliny says (H. N. 25.38), that Juba gave the name of Euphorbia to a plant which he found growing on Mount Atlas in honour of his physician, and Galen mentions (de Compos. Medicam. sec. Locos. 9.4. vol. xiii. p. 271) a short treatise written by the king on the virtues of the plant. Salmasius tries to prove (Prolegom. ad Homon. Hyles Iatr. p. 4), that this story of Pliny is without foundation, and that the word was in use much earlier than the time of Juba, as it is mentioned by Meleager. (Carm. 1.37.) It does not, however, seem likely that Pliny would have been ignorant of a plant that was known to a poet who lived two hundred years before him; and besides, in the passage in question, the commonly received reading in the present day is not εὐφόρβης, but ἐκ φορβῆς. [W.A.G]
(Εὔφορβος). A Trojan, son of Panthoüs, renowned for his valour. He wounded Patroclus, and was killed by Menelaüs (Il. xvii. 60). Pausanias relates (ii. 17) that in the temple of Heré, near Mycenae, a votive shield was shown, said to be that of Euphorbus, suspended there by Menelaüs. Pythagoras, who maintained the transmigration of souls, declared that, in the time of the Trojan War, his soul had animated the body of Euphorbus; and as a proof of the truth of his assertion, he is said to have gone into the temple where the shield was hanging, and to have recognized and taken it down (Hor. Carm. i. 28. 11).