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Philomela (Daughter of Pandion king)

A daughter of Pandion, king of Athens. Her sister Procne had married Tereus, king of Thrace, and being separated from Philomela spent her time in great melancholy. She persuaded her husband to go to Athens and bring her sister to Thrace.

Tereus, on the journey, treated Philomela with great cruelty, and cut off her tongue, confining her in a lonely castle, and reporting to Procne that she was dead. Philomela, however, found means to inform Procne that she was living. In revenge for the cruelty of Tereus, Procne murdered his son and served him up as food at a banquet. On hearing this Tereus drew his sword to slay the sisters, when he was changed into a hoopoe, Philomela into a nightingale, and Procne into a swallow. In poetry we frequently find the nightingale alluded to as Philomela, as in this quatrain, which occurs in a contribution to the Etonian: "Hark! upon the passing gale Philomela's plaintive wail!

Feelings how serene and tender Does the lovely music render."