Chapter M (2)

=Marcellus Marcus Claudius=, a famous Roman general, who, after the
first Punic war, had the management of an expedition against the
Gauls, where he obtained the _Spolia opima_, by killing with his
own hand Viridomarus the king of the enemy. Such success rendered
him popular, and soon after he was entrusted to oppose Annibal in
Italy. He was the first Roman who obtained some advantage over this
celebrated Carthaginian, and showed his countrymen that Annibal
was not invincible. The troubles which were raised in Sicily by the
Carthaginians at the death of Hieronymus, alarmed the Romans, and
Marcellus, in his third consulship, was sent with a powerful force
against Syracuse. He attacked it by sea and land, but his operations
proved ineffectual, and the invention and industry of a philosopher
[_See:_ Archimedes] were able to baffle all the efforts, and to
destroy all the great and stupendous machines and military engines
of the Romans during three successive years. The perseverance of
Marcellus at last obtained the victory. The inattention of the
inhabitants during their nocturnal celebration of the festivals
of Diana, favoured his operations; he forcibly entered the town,
and made himself master of it. The conqueror enriched the capital
of Italy with the spoils of Syracuse, and when he was accused of
rapaciousness, for stripping the conquered city of all its paintings
and ornaments, he confessed that he had done it to adorn the public
buildings of Rome, and to introduce a taste for the fine arts and
elegance of the Greeks among his countrymen. After the conquest
of Syracuse, Marcellus was called upon by his country to oppose
a second time Annibal. In this campaign he behaved with greater
vigour than before; the greatest part of the towns of the Samnites,
which had revolted, were recovered by force of arms, and 3000 of the
soldiers of Annibal made prisoners. Some time after an engagement
with the Carthaginian general proved unfavourable; Marcellus had the
disadvantage; but on the morrow a more successful skirmish vindicated
his military character, and the honour of the Roman soldiers.
Marcellus, however, was not sufficiently vigilant against the snares
of his adversary. He imprudently separated himself from his camp, and
was killed in an ambuscade in the 60th year of his age, in his fifth
consulship, A.U.C. 546. His body was honoured with a magnificent
funeral by the conqueror, and his ashes were conveyed in a silver
urn to his son. Marcellus claims our commendation for his private
as well as public virtues; and the humanity of the general will ever
be remembered who, at the surrender of Syracuse, wept at the thought
that many were going to be exposed to the avarice and rapaciousness
of an incensed soldiery, which the policy of Rome and the laws of war
rendered inevitable. _Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 6, li. 855.――_Paterculus_,
bk. 2, ch. 38.――_Plutarch_, _Lives_, &c.――――One of his descendants,
who bore the same name, signalized himself in the civil wars of Cæsar
and Pompey, by his firm attachment to the latter. He was banished by
Cæsar, but afterwards recalled at the request of the senate. Cicero
undertook his defence in an oration which is still extant.――――The
grandson of Pompey’s friend rendered himself popular by his universal
benevolence and affability. He was son of Marcellus, by Octavia the
sister of Augustus. He married Julia, that emperor’s daughter, and
was publicly intended as his successor. The suddenness of his death,
at the early age of 18, was the cause of much lamentation at Rome,
particularly in the family of Augustus, and Virgil procured himself
great favours by celebrating the virtues of this amiable prince.
_See:_ Octavia. Marcellus was buried at the public expense. _Virgil_,
_Æneid_, bk. 6, li. 883.――_Suetonius_, _Augustus_.――_Plutarch_,
_Marcellus_.――_Seneca_, _de Consolatione ad Marciam_.――_Paterculus_,
bk. 2, ch. 93.――――The son of the great Marcellus who took Syracuse,
was caught in the ambuscade which proved fatal to his father, but he
forced his way from the enemy and escaped. He received the ashes of
his father from the conqueror. _Plutarch_, _Marcellus_.――――A man who
conspired against Vespasian.――――The husband of Octavia the sister of
Augustus.――――A conqueror of Britain.――――An officer under the emperor
Julian.――――A man put to death by Galba.――――A man who gave Cicero
information of Catiline’s conspiracy.――――A colleague of Cato in
the questorship.――――A native of Pamphylia, who wrote an heroic poem
on physic, divided into 42 books. He lived in the reign of Marcus
Aurelius.――――A Roman drowned in a storm, &c.

=Marcia lex=, by Marcius Censorinus. It forbade any man to be invested
with the office of censor more than once.

=Marcia=, the wife of Regulus. When she heard that her husband had
been put to death at Carthage in the most excruciating manner, she
retorted the punishment, and shut up some Carthaginian prisoners in a
barrel, which she had previously filled with sharp nails. The senate
was obliged to stop the wantonness of her cruelty. _Diodorus_, bk. 24.
――――A favourite of the emperor Commodus, whom he poisoned.――――A
vestal virgin, punished for her incontinence.――――A daughter of Philip,
who married Cato the censor. Her husband gave her to his friend
Hortensius for the sake of procreating children, and after his death
he took her again to his own house.――――An ancient name of the island
of Rhodes.――――A daughter of Cato of Utica.――――A stream of water.
_See:_ Martia aqua.

=Marciāna=, a sister of the emperor Trajan, who, on account of her
public and private virtues and her amiable disposition, was declared
Augusta and empress by her brother. She died A.D. 113.

=Marcianopŏlis=, the capital of Lower Mœsia in Greece. It receives its
name in honour of the empress Marciana.

=Marciānus=, a native of Thrace, born of an obscure family. After he
had for some time served in the army as a common soldier, he was made
private secretary to one of the officers of Theodosius. His winning
address and uncommon talents raised him to higher stations; and
on the death of Theodosius II., A.D. 450, he was invested with the
imperial purple in the east. The subjects of the Roman empire had
reason to be satisfied with their choice. Marcianus showed himself
active and resolute, and when Attila, the barbarous king of the Huns,
asked of the emperor the annual tribute, which the indolence and
cowardice of his predecessors had regularly paid, the successor of
Theodosius firmly said that he kept his gold for his friends, but
that iron was the metal which he had prepared for his enemies. In
the midst of universal popularity Marcianus died, after a reign of
six years, in the 69th year of his age, as he was making warlike
preparations against the barbarians that had invaded Africa. His
death was lamented, and indeed his merit was great, since his
reign has been distinguished by the appellation of the golden age.
Marcianus married Pulcheria, the sister of his predecessor. It is
said, that in the years of his obscurity he found a man who had been
murdered, and that he had the humanity to give him a private burial,
for which circumstance he was accused of the homicide and imprisoned.
He was condemned to lose his life, and the sentence would have been
executed, had not the real murderer been discovered, and convinced
the world of the innocence of Marcianus.――――Capella, a writer. _See:_
Capella.

=Marcus Marcius Sabīnus=, was the progenitor of the Marcian family at
Rome. He came to Rome with Numa, and it was he who advised Numa to
accept of the crown which the Romans offered to him. He attempted
to make himself king of Rome, in opposition to Tullus Hostilius, and
when his efforts proved unsuccessful he killed himself. His son, who
married a daughter of Numa, was made high priest by his father-in-law.
He was father of Ancus Marcius. _Plutarch_, _Numa_.――――A Roman who
accused Ptolemy Auletes king of Egypt of misdemeanour in the Roman
senate.――――A Roman consul, defeated by the Samnites. He was more
successful against the Carthaginians, and obtained a victory, &c.
――――Another consul, who obtained a victory over the Etrurians.
――――Another, who defeated the Hernici.――――A Roman who fought against
Asdrubal.――――A man whom Catiline hired to assassinate Cicero.

=Marcius Saltus=, a place in Liguria, &c.

=Marcomanni=, a people of Germany, who originally dwelt on the banks of
the Rhine and the Danube. They proved powerful enemies to the Roman
emperors. Augustus granted them peace, but they were afterwards
subdued by Antoninus and Trajan, &c. _Paterculus_, bk. 2, ch. 109.
――_Tacitus_, _Annals_, bk. 2, chs. 46 & 62; _Germania_, ch. 42.

=Marcus=, a prænomen common to many of the Romans. _See:_ Æmilius,
Lepidus, &c.――――A son of Cato, killed at Philippi, &c.――――Caryensis,
a general of the Achæan league, 255 B.C.

=Mardi=, a people of Persia, on the confines of Media. They were
very poor, and generally lived upon the flesh of wild beasts. Their
country, in later times, became the residence of the famous assassins
destroyed by Hulakou the grandson of Zingis Khan. _Herodotus_, bks.
1 & 3.――_Pliny_, bk. 6, ch. 16.

=Mardia=, a place of Thrace, famous for a battle between Constantine
and Licinius, A.D. 315.

=Mardonius=, a general of Xerxes, who, after the defeat of his master
at Thermopylæ and Salamis, was left in Greece with an army of 300,000
chosen men, to subdue the country, and reduce it under the power
of Persia. His operations were rendered useless by the courage and
vigilance of the Greeks; and in a battle at Platæa, Mardonius was
defeated and left among the slain, B.C. 479. He had been commander
of the armies of Darius in Europe, and it was chiefly by his advice
that Xerxes invaded Greece. He was son-in-law of Darius. _Plutarch_,
_Aristotle_.――_Herodotus_, bks. 6, 7, & 8.――_Diodorus_, bk. 11.
――_Justin_, bk. 2, ch. 13, &c.

=Mardus=, a river of Media, falling into the Caspian sea.

=Mare Mortuum=, called also, from the _bitumen_ which it throws up,
the lake _Asphaltites_, is situate in Judæa, and is near 100 miles
long and 25 broad. Its waters are ♦saltier than those of the sea, but
the vapours exhaled from them are not so pestilential as have been
generally represented. It is supposed that the 13 cities, of which
Sodom and Gomorrah, as mentioned in the Scriptures, were the capital,
were destroyed by a volcano, and on the site a lake formed. Volcanic
appearances now mark the face of the country, and earthquakes are
frequent. _Pliny_, bk. 5, ch. 6.――_Josephus_, _Jewish War_, bk. 4,
ch. 27.――_Strabo_, bk. 16, p. 764.――_Justin_, bk. 36, ch. 3.

♦ ‘salter’ replaced with ‘saltier’

=Măreōtis=, now _Siwah_, a lake in Egypt near Alexandria. Its
neighbourhood is famous for wine, though some make the _Mareoticum
vinum_ grow in Epirus, or in a certain part of Libya, called also
Mareotis, near Egypt. _Virgil_, _Georgics_, bk. 2, li. 91.――_Horace_,
bk. 1, ode 38, li. 14.――_Lucan_, bks. 3 & 10.――_Strabo_, bk. 17.

=Marginia= and =Margiania=, a town and country near the river Oxus,
at the east of Hyrcania, celebrated for its wines. The vines are so
uncommonly large that two men can scarcely grasp the trunk of one of
them. _Curtius_, bk. 7, ch. 10.――_Ptolemy_, bk. 5.

=Margītes=, a man against whom, as some suppose, Homer wrote a poem,
to ridicule his superficial knowledge, and to expose his affectation.
When Demosthenes wished to prove Alexander an inveterate enemy to
Athens, he called him another Margites.

=Margus=, a river of Mœsia falling into the Danube, with a town of the
same name, now _Kastolatz_.

=Mariăba=, a city in Arabia, near the Red sea.

=Maria lex=, by Caius Marius the tribune, A.U.C. 634. It ordered the
planks called _pontes_, on which the people stood up to give their
votes in the _comitia_, to be narrower, that no other might stand
there to hinder the proceedings of the assembly by appeal, or other
disturbances.――――Another, called also _Porcia_, by Lucius Marius and
Porcius, tribunes, A.U.C. 691. It fined a certain sum of money such
commanders as gave a false account to the Roman senate of the number
of the slain in a battle. It obliged them to swear to the truth of
their return when they entered the city, according to the best
computation.

=Mariamna=, a Jewish woman, who married Herodes, &c.

=Mariānæ fossæ=, a town of Gaul Narbonensis, which received its name
from the _dyke_ (_fossa_) which Marius opened from thence to the sea.
_Pliny_, bk. 3, ch. 4.――_Strabo_, bk. 4.

=Mariandynum=, a place near Bithynia, where the poets feign that
Hercules dragged Cerberus out of hell. _Dionysius of Halicarnassus._
――_Ptolemy_, bk. 5, ch. 1.――_Mela_, bk. 1, chs. 2 & 19; bk. 2, ch. 7.

=Mariānus=, a surname given to Jupiter from a temple built to his
honour by Marius. It was in this temple that the Roman senate
assembled to recall Cicero, a circumstance communicated to him in
a dream. _Valerius Maximus_, bk. 1, ch. 7.

=Marīca=, a nymph of the river Liris, near Minturnæ. She married king
Faunus, by whom she had king Latinus, and she was afterwards called
Fauna and Fatua, and honoured as a goddess. A city of Campania bore
her name. Some suppose her to be the same as Circe. _Virgil_, _Æneid_,
bk. 7, li. 47.――_Livy_, bk. 27, ch. 37.――――A wood on the borders of
Campania bore also the name of _Marica_, as being sacred to the nymph.
_Livy_, bk. 27, ch. 37.――_Horace_, bk. 3, ode 17, li. 7.

=Marīcus=, a Gaul thrown to lions, in the reign of Vitellius, who
refused to devour him, &c. _Tacitus_, _Annals_, bk. 2, ch. 61.

=Marīna=, a daughter of Arcadius, &c.

=Marīnis=, a friend of Tiberius, put to death, &c.

=Marion=, a king of Tyre in the age of Alexander the Great.

=Marissa=, an opulent town of Judæa.

=Marīta lex.= _See:_ Julia de Maritandis.

=Maris=, a river of Scythia.――――A son of Armisodares, who assisted
Priam against the Greeks, and was killed by Antilochus. _Homer_,
_Iliad_, bk. 6, li. 317.

=Marisus=, a river of Dacia.

=Caiaus Marius=, a celebrated Roman, who, from a peasant, became one
of the most powerful and cruel tyrants that Rome ever beheld during
her consular government. He was born at Arpinum, of obscure and
illiterate parents. His father bore the same name as himself, and
his mother was called Fulcinia. He forsook the meaner occupations of
the country for the camp, and signalized himself under Scipio at the
siege of Numantia. The Roman general saw the courage and intrepidity
of young Marius, and foretold the era of his future greatness. By
his seditions and intrigues at Rome, while he exercised the inferior
offices of the state, he rendered himself known; and his marriage
with Julia, who was of the family of the Cæsars, contributed in
some measure to raise him to consequence. He passed into Africa as
lieutenant to the consul Metellus against Jugurtha, and after he had
there ingratiated himself with the soldiers, and raised enemies to
his friend and benefactor, he returned to Rome, and canvassed for
the consulship. The extravagant promises he made to the people, and
his malevolent insinuations about the conduct of Metellus, proved
successful. He was elected, and appointed to finish the war against
Jugurtha. He showed himself capable in every degree to succeed
Metellus. Jugurtha was defeated and afterwards betrayed into the
hands of the Romans by the perfidy of Bocchus. No sooner was Jugurtha
conquered, than new honours and fresh trophies awaited Marius.
The provinces at Rome were suddenly invaded by an army of 300,000
barbarians, and Marius was the only man whose activity and boldness
could resist so powerful an enemy. He was elected consul, and sent
against the Teutones. The war was prolonged, and Marius was a third
and fourth time invested with the consulship. At last two engagements
were fought, and not less than 200,000 of the barbarian forces of
the Ambrones and Teutones were slain in the field of battle, and
90,000 made prisoners. The following year was also marked by a
total overthrow of the Cimbri, another horde of barbarians, in which
140,000 were slaughtered by the Romans, and 60,000 taken prisoners.
After such honourable victories, Marius, with his colleague Catulus,
entered Rome in triumph, and for his eminent services, he deserved
the appellation of the third founder of Rome. He was elected consul
a sixth time; and, as his intrepidity had delivered his country from
its foreign enemies, he sought employment at home, and his restless
ambition began to raise seditions and to oppose the power of Sylla.
This was the cause and the foundation of a civil war. Sylla refused
to deliver up the command of the forces with which he was empowered
to prosecute the Mithridatic war, and he resolved to oppose the
authors of a demand which he considered as arbitrary and improper. He
advanced to Rome, and Marius was obliged to save his life by flight.
The unfavourable winds prevented him from seeking a safer retreat
in Africa, and he was left on the coasts of Campania, where the
emissaries of his enemy soon discovered him in a marsh, where he had
plunged himself in the mud, and left only his mouth above the surface
for respiration. He was violently dragged to the neighbouring town of
Minturnæ, and the magistrates, all devoted to the interest of Sylla,
passed sentence of immediate death on their magnanimous prisoner. A
Gaul was commanded to cut off his head in the dungeon, but the stern
countenance of Marius disarmed the courage of the executioner, and,
when he heard the exclamation of _Tune, homo, audes occidere Caium
Marium_, the dagger dropped from his hand. Such an uncommon adventure
awakened the compassion of the inhabitants of Minturnæ. They released
Marius from prison, and favoured his escape to Africa, where he
joined his son Marius, who had been arming the princes of the country
in his cause. Marius landed near the walls of Carthage, and he
received no small consolation at the sight of the venerable ruins
of a once powerful city, which, like himself, had been exposed to
calamity, and felt the cruel vicissitude of fortune. This place of
his retreat was soon known, and the governor of Africa, to conciliate
the favours of Sylla, compelled Marius to fly to a neighbouring
island. He soon after learned that Cinna had embraced his cause at
Rome, when the Roman senate had stripped him of his consular dignity
and bestowed it upon one of his enemies. This intelligence animated
Marius; he set sail to assist his friend, only at the head of 1000
men. His army, however, gradually increased, and he entered Rome like
a conqueror. His enemies were inhumanly sacrificed to his fury. Rome
was filled with blood, and he who had once been called the father
of his country, marched through the streets of the city, attended by
a number of assassins, who immediately slaughtered all those whose
salutations were not answered by their leader. Such were the signals
for bloodshed. When Marius and Cinna had sufficiently gratified their
resentment, they made themselves consuls, but Marius, already worn
out with old age and infirmities, died 16 days after he had been
honoured with the consular dignity for the seventh time, B.C. 86. His
end was probably hastened by the uncommon quantities of wine which
he drank when labouring under a dangerous disease, to remove, by
intoxication, the stings of a guilty conscience. Such was the end
of Marius, who rendered himself conspicuous by his victories, and
by his cruelty. As he was brought up in the midst of poverty and
among peasants, it will not appear wonderful that he always betrayed
rusticity in his behaviour, and despised in others those polished
manners and that studied address which education had denied him. He
hated the conversation of the learned only because he was illiterate,
and if he appeared an example of sobriety and temperance, he owed
these advantages to the years of obscurity which he had passed at
Arpinum. His countenance was stern, his voice firm and imperious, and
his disposition untractable. He always betrayed the greatest timidity
in the public assemblies, as he had not been early taught to make
eloquence and oratory his pursuit. He was in the 70th year of his
age when he died, and Rome seemed to rejoice at the fall of a man
whose ambition had proved fatal to so many of her citizens. His
only qualifications were those of a great general, and with these
he rendered himself the most illustrious and powerful of the Romans,
because he was the only one whose ferocity seemed capable to oppose
the barbarians of the north. The manner of his death, according to
some opinions, remains doubtful, though some have charged him with
the crime of suicide. Among the instances which are mentioned of
his firmness this may be recorded: A swelling in the leg obliged him
to apply to a physician, who urged the necessity of cutting it off.
Marius gave it, and saw the operation performed without a distortion
of the face, and without a groan. The physician asked the other,
and Marius gave it with equal composure. _Plutarch_, _Lives_.
――_Paterculus_, bk. 2, ch. 9.――_Florus_, bk. 3, ch. 3.――_Juvenal_,
satire 8, li. 245, &c.――_Lucan_, bk. 2, li. 69.――――Caius, the son of
the great Marius, was as cruel as his father, and shared his good and
his adverse fortune. He made himself consul in the 25th year of his
age, and murdered all the senators who opposed his ambitious views.
He was defeated by Sylla, and fled to Præneste, where he killed
himself. _Plutarch_, _Caius Marius_.――――Priscus, a governor of Africa,
accused of extortion in his province by Pliny the younger, and
banished from Italy. _Pliny_, bk. 2, ltr. 11.――_Juvenal_, satire 1,
li. 48.――――A lover, &c. _See:_ Hellas.――――One of the Greek fathers
of the fifth century, whose works were edited by Garner, 2 vols.,
folio, Paris, 1673; and by Baluzius, Paris, 1684.――――Marcus Aurelius,
a native of Gaul, who, from the mean employment of a blacksmith,
became one of the generals of Gallienus, and at last caused himself
to be saluted emperor. Three days after this elevation, a man who had
shared his poverty without partaking of his more prosperous fortune,
publicly assassinated him, and he was killed by a sword which he
himself had made in the time of his obscurity. Marius has been often
celebrated for his great strength, and it is confidently reported
that he could stop, with one of his fingers only, the wheel of a
chariot in its most rapid course.――――Maximus, a Latin writer, who
published an account of the Roman emperors from Trajan to Alexander,
now lost. His compositions were entertaining, and executed with
great exactness and fidelity. Some have accused him of inattention,
and complain that his writings abounded with many fabulous and
insignificant stories.――――Celsus, a friend of Galba, saved from death
by Otho, &c. _Tacitus_, _Histories_, bk. 1, ch. 45.――――Sextus, a
rich Spaniard, thrown down from the Tarpeian rock, on account of his
riches, &c. _Tacitus_, _Annals_, bk. 6, ch. 19.

=Marmăcus=, the father of Pythagoras. _Diogenes Laërtius._

=Marmărenses=, a people of Lycia.

=Marmărĭca.= _See:_ Marmaridæ.

=Marmărĭdæ=, the inhabitants of that part of Lybia called _Marmarica_,
between Cyrene and Egypt. They were swift in running, and pretended
to possess some drugs or secret power to destroy the poisonous
effects of the bite of serpents. _Silius Italicus_, bk. 3, li. 300;
bk. 11, li. 182.――_Lucan_, bk. 4, li. 680; bk. 9, li. 894.

=Marmărion=, a town of Eubœa, whence Apollo is called _Marmarinus_.
_Strabo_, bk. 10.

=Maro.= _See:_ Virgilius.

=Marobodui=, a nation of Germany. _Tacitus_, _Germania_, ch. 42.

=Maron=, a son of Evanthes, high priest of Apollo in Africa, when
Ulysses touched upon the coast. _Homer_, _Odyssey_, bk. 9, li. 179.
――――An Egyptian who accompanied Osiris in his conquests, and built
a city in Thrace, called from him Maronea. _Mela_, bk. 2, ch. 2.
――_Diodorus_, bk. 1.

=Maronēa=, a city of the Cicones, in Thrace, near the Hebrus, of
which Bacchus is the chief deity. The wine has always been reckoned
excellent, and with it, it was supposed that Ulysses intoxicated the
Cyclops Polyphemus. _Pliny_, bk. 14, ch. 4.――_Herodotus._――_Mela_,
bk. 2, ch. 2,――_Tibullus_, bk. 4, poem 1, li. 57.

=Marpĕsia=, a celebrated queen of the Amazons, who waged a successful
war against the inhabitants of mount Caucasus. The mountain was
called _Marpesius Mons_ from its female conqueror. _Justin_, bk. 2,
ch. 4.――_Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 6.

=Marpessa=, a daughter of the Evenus, who married Idas, by whom she had
Cleopatra the wife of Meleager. Marpessa was tenderly loved by her
husband; and when Apollo endeavoured to carry her away, Idas followed
the ravisher with a bow and arrows, resolved on revenge. Apollo and
Idas were separated by Jupiter, who permitted Marpessa to go with
that of the two lovers whom she most approved of. She returned to her
husband. _Homer_, _Iliad_, bk. 9, li. 549.――_Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_,
bk. 8, li. 305.――_Apollodorus_, bk. 1, ch. 7.――_Pausanias_, bk. 4,
ch. 2; bk. 5, ch. 18.

=Marpesus=, a town of Mysia.――――A mountain of Paros, abounding in white
marble, whence _Marpesia cautes_. The quarries are still seen by
modern travellers. _Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 6, li. 471.――_Pliny_, bk. 4,
ch. 12; bk. 36, ch. 5.

=Marres=, a king of Egypt, who had a crow which conveyed his letters
wherever he pleased. He raised a celebrated monument to this faithful
bird near the city of crocodiles. _Ælian_, _de Natura Animalium_,
bk. 6, ch. 7.

=Marrucīni=, a people of Picenum. _Silius Italicus_, bk. 15, li. 564.

=Marrŭvium=, or =Marrubium=, now _San Benedetto_, a place near
the Liris, in Italy. _Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 7, li. 750.――_Silius
Italicus_, bk. 8, li. 497.

=Mars=, the god of war among the ancients, was the son of Jupiter and
Juno, according to Hesiod, Homer, and all the Greek poets, or of Juno
alone, according to Ovid. This goddess, as the poet mentions, wished
to become a mother without the assistance of the other sex, like
Jupiter, who had produced Minerva all armed from his head, and she
was shown a flower by Flora in the plains near Olenus, whose very
touch made women pregnant. _See:_ Juno. The education of Mars was
entrusted by Juno to the god Priapus, who instructed him in dancing
and in every manly exercise. His trial before the celebrated court
of the Areopagus, according to the authority of some authors, for the
murder of Hallirhotius, forms an interesting epoch in history. _See:_
Areopagitæ. The amours of Mars and Venus are greatly celebrated.
The god of war gained the affection of Venus, and obtained the
gratification of his desires; but Apollo, who was conscious of
their familiarities, informed Vulcan of his wife’s debaucheries, and
awakened his suspicions. Vulcan secretly laid a net around the bed,
and the two lovers were exposed in each other’s arms, to the ridicule
and satire of all the gods, till Neptune prevailed upon the husband
to set them at liberty. This unfortunate discovery so provoked
Mars, that he changed into a cock his favourite Alectryon, whom
he had stationed at the door to watch against the approach of the
sun [_See:_ Alectryon], and Venus also showed her resentment by
persecuting with the most inveterate fury the children of Apollo.
In the wars of Jupiter and the Titans, Mars was seized by Otus and
Ephialtes, and confined for 15 months, till Mercury procured him his
liberty. During the Trojan war Mars interested himself on the side
of the Trojans, but whilst he defended these favourites of Venus
with uncommon activity, he was wounded by Diomedes, and hastily
retreated to heaven to conceal his confusion and his resentment, and
to complain to Jupiter that Minerva had directed the unerring weapon
of his antagonist. The worship of Mars was not very universal among
the ancients; his temples were not numerous in Greece, but in Rome
he received the most unbounded honours, and the warlike Romans were
proud of paying homage to a deity whom they esteemed as the patron
of their city, and the father of the first of their monarchs. His
most celebrated temple at Rome was built by Augustus after the
battle of Philippi. It was dedicated to Mars ultor, or the _avenger_.
His priests among the Romans were called Salii; they were first
instituted by Numa, and their chief office was to guard the sacred
Ancylia, one of which, as was supposed, had fallen down from heaven.
Mars was generally represented in the naked figure of an old man,
armed with a helmet, a pike, and a shield. Sometimes he appeared in a
military dress, and with a long flowing beard, and sometimes without.
He generally rode in a chariot drawn by furious horses, which the
poets called Flight and Terror. His altars were stained with the
blood of the horse, on account of his warlike spirit, and of the wolf,
on account of his ferocity. Magpies and vultures were also offered
up to him, on account of their greediness and voracity. The Scythians
generally offered him asses, and the people of Caria dogs. The
weed called dog-grass was sacred to him, because it grows, as it is
commonly reported, in places which are fit for fields of battle, or
where the ground has been stained with the effusion of human blood.
The surnames of Mars are not numerous. He was called Gradivus, Mavors,
Quirinus, Salisubsulus, among the Romans. The Greeks called him Ares,
and he was the Enyalus of the Sabines, the Camulus of the Gauls,
and the Mamers of Carthage. Mars was father of Cupid, Anteros, and
Harmonia, by the goddess Venus. He had Ascalaphus and Ialmenus by
Astyoche; Alcippe by Agraulos; Molus, Pylus, Evenus, and Thestius,
by Demonice the daughter of Agenor. Besides these, he was the reputed
father of Romulus, Œnomaus, Bythis, Thrax, Diomedes of Thrace, &c. He
presided over gladiators, and was the god of hunting, and of whatever
exercises or amusements have something manly and warlike. Among the
Romans it was usual for the consul, before he went on an expedition,
to visit the temple of Mars, where he offered his prayers, and in a
solemn manner shook the spear which was in the hand of the ♦statue
of the god, at the same time exclaiming, “_Mars vigila!_ god of war,
watch over the safety of this city.” _Ovid_, _Fasti_, bk. 5, li.
231; _Tristia_, bk. 2, li. 925.――_Hyginus_, fable 148.――_Virgil_,
_Georgics_, bk. 4, li. 346; _Æneid_, bk. 8, li. 701.――_Lucian_,
_Electrum_.――_Varro_, _de Lingua Latina_, bk. 4, ch. 10.――_Homer_,
_Odyssey_, bk. 1; _Iliad_, bk. 5.――_Flaccus_, bk. 6.――_Apollodorus_,
bk. 1, &c.――_Hesiod_, _Theogony_.――_Pindar_, ode 4, _Pythian_.
――_Quintus Smyrnæus_, bk. 14.――_Pausanias_, bk. 1, chs. 21 & 28.
――_Juvenal_, satire 9, li. 102.

♦ ‘staute’ replaced with ‘statue’

=Marsala=, a town of Sicily.

=Marsæus=, a Roman, ridiculed by Horace, bk. 1, satire 2, li. 35, for
his prodigality to courtesans.

=Marse=, a daughter of Thespius. _Apollodorus._

=Marsi=, a nation of Germany, who afterwards came to settle near the
lake Fucinus in Italy, in a country chequered with forests, abounding
with wild boars and other ferocious animals. They at first proved
very inimical to the Romans, but in process of time they became their
firmest supporters. They are particularly celebrated for the civil
war in which they were engaged, and which from them has received the
name of the _Marsian war_. The large contributions which they made
to support the interest of Rome, and the number of men which they
continually supplied to the republic, rendered them bold and aspiring,
and they claimed, with the rest of the Italian states, a share of
the honours and privileges which were enjoyed by the citizens of
Rome, B.C. 91. This petition, though supported by the interest, the
eloquence, and the integrity of the tribune Drusus, was received
with contempt by the Roman senate; and the Marsi, with their allies,
showed their dissatisfaction by taking up arms. Their resentment
was increased when Drusus, their friend at Rome, had been basely
murdered by the means of the nobles; and they erected themselves into
a republic, and Corfinium was made the capital of their new empire. A
regular war was now begun, and the Romans led into the field an army
of 100,000 men, and were opposed by a superior force. Some battles
were fought in which the Roman generals were defeated, and the allies
reaped no inconsiderable advantages from their victories. A battle,
however, near Asculum, proved fatal to their cause: 4000 of them
were left dead on the spot; their general, Francus, a man of uncommon
experience and abilities, was slain, and such as escaped from the
field perished by hunger in the Apennines, where they had sought a
shelter. After many defeats, and the loss of Asculum, one of their
principal cities, the allies, grown dejected and tired of hostilities
which had already continued for three years, sued for peace one by
one, and tranquillity was at last re-established in the republic, and
all the states of Italy were made citizens of Rome. The armies of the
allies consisted of the Marsi, the Peligni, the Vestini, the Hirpini,
Pompeiani, Marcini, Picentes, Venusini, Ferentani, Apuli, Lucani, and
Samnites. The Marsi were greatly addicted to magic. _Horace_, epode 5,
li. 76; epode 27, li. 29.――_Appian._――_Valerius Maximus_, bk. 8.
――_Paterculus_, bk. 2.――_Plutarch_, _Sertorius_, _Caius Marius_, &c.
――_Cicero_, _For Cornelius Balbus_.――_Strabo._――_Tacitus_, _Annals_,
bk. 1, chs. 50 & 56; _Germania_, ch. 2.

=Marsigni=, a people of Germany. _Tacitus_, _Germania_, ch. 43.

=Marsus Domitius=, a Latin poet.

=Marsyaba=, a town of Arabia.

=Marsyas=, a celebrated piper of Celænæ, in Phrygia, son of Olympus,
or of Hyagnis, or Œagrus. He was so skilful in playing on the
flute, that he is generally deemed the inventor of it. According to
the opinion of some, he found it when Minerva had thrown it aside
on account of the distortion of her face when she played upon it.
Marsyas was enamoured of Cybele, and he travelled with her as far as
Nysa, where he had the imprudence to challenge Apollo to a trial of
his skill as a musician. The god accepted the challenge, and it was
mutually agreed that he who was defeated should be flayed alive by
the conquerer. The Muses, or according to Diodorus, the inhabitants
of Nysa, were appointed umpires. Each exerted his utmost skill,
and the victory, with much difficulty, was adjudged to Apollo. The
god, upon this, tied his antagonist to a tree, and flayed him alive.
The death of Marsyas was universally lamented; the Fauns, Satyrs,
and Dryads wept at his fate, and from their abundant tears, arose a
river of Phrygia, well known by the name of Marsyas. The unfortunate
Marsyas is often represented on monuments as tied, his hands behind
his back, to a tree, while Apollo stands before him with his lyre
in his hand. In independent cities among the ancients the statue
of Marsyas was generally erected in the forum, to represent the
intimacy which subsisted between Bacchus and Marsyas, as the emblems
of liberty. It was also erected at the entrance of the Roman forum,
as a spot where usurers and merchants resorted to transact business,
being principally intended _in terrorem litigatorum_; a circumstance
to which Horace seems to allude, bk. 1, satire 6, li. 120. At
Celænæ, the skin of Marsyas was shown to travellers for some time;
it was suspended in the public place in the form of a bladder, or a
foot-ball. _Hyginus_, fable 165.――_Ovid_, _Fasti_, bk. 6, li. 707;
_Metamorphoses_, bk. 6, fable 7.――_Diodorus_, bk. 3.――_Silius
Italicus_, bk. 8, li. 503.――_Pliny_, bk. 5, ch. 29; bk. 7, ch. 56.
――_Pausanias_, bk. 10, ch. 30.――_Apollodorus_, bk. 1, ch. 4.――――The
sources of the Marsyas were near those of the Mæander, and those two
rivers had their confluence a little below the town of Celænæ. _Livy_,
bk. 38, ch. 13.――_Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 2, li. 265.――_Lucan_,
bk. 3, li. 208.――――A writer who published a history of Macedonia,
from the first origin and foundation of that empire till the reign of
Alexander, in which he lived.――――An Egyptian who commanded the armies
of Cleopatra against her brother Ptolemy Physcon, whom she attempted
to dethrone.――――A man put to death by Dionysius the tyrant of Sicily.

=Martha=, a celebrated prophetess of Syria, whose artifice and fraud
proved of the greatest service to Caius Marius in the numerous
expeditions which he undertook. _Plutarch_, _Caius Marius_.

=Martia=, a vestal virgin, put to death for her incontinence.――――A
daughter of Cato. _See:_ Marcia.

=Martia aqua=, water at Rome, celebrated for its clearness and
salubrity. It was conveyed to Rome, at the distance of above 30 miles,
from the lake Fucinus, by Ancus Martius, whence it received its name.
_Tibullus_, bk. 3, poem 7, li. 26.――_Pliny_, bk. 31, ch. 3; bk. 36,
ch. 15.

=Martiāles ludi=, games celebrated at Rome in honour of Mars.

=Martiālis Marcus Valerius=, a native of Bilbilis, in Spain, who came
to Rome about the 20th year of his age, where he recommended himself
to notice by his poetical genius. As he was the panegyrist of the
emperors, he gained the greatest honours, and was rewarded in the
most liberal manner. Domitian gave him the tribuneship; but the
poet, unmindful of the favours he received, after the death of his
benefactor, exposed to ridicule the vices and cruelties of a monster,
whom in his lifetime he had extolled as the pattern of virtue,
goodness, and excellence. Trajan treated the poet with coldness, and
Martial, after he had passed 35 years in the capital of the world, in
the greatest splendour and affluence, retired to his native country,
where he had the mortification to be the object of malevolence,
satire, and ridicule. He received some favours from his friends, and
his poverty was alleviated by the ♦liberality of Pliny the younger,
whom he had panegyrized in his poems. Martial died about the 104th
year of the christian era, in the 75th year of his age. He is now
well known by the 14 books of epigrams which he wrote, and whose
merit is now best described by the candid confession of the author
in this line,

_Sunt bona, sunt quædam mediocria, sunt mala plura._

But the genius which he displays in some of his epigrams deserves
commendation, though many critics are liberal in their censure upon
his style, his thoughts, and particularly upon his puns, which are
often low and despicable. In many of his epigrams the poet has shown
himself a declared enemy to decency, and the book is to be read with
caution which can corrupt the purity of morals, and initiate the
votaries of virtue in the mysteries of vice. It has been observed of
Martial, that his talent was epigrams. Everything which he did was
the subject of an epigram. He wrote inscriptions upon monuments in
the epigrammatical style, and even a new year’s gift was accompanied
with a distich, and his poetical pen was employed in begging a favour
as well as in satirizing a fault. The best editions of Martial are
those of Rader, folio, Mogunt. 1627; of Schriverius, 12mo, Leiden,
1619; and of Smids, 8vo, Amsterdam, 1701.――――A friend of Otho.――――A
man who conspired against Caracalla.

♦ ‘liberalty’ replaced with ‘liberality’

=Martiānus.= _See:_ Marcianus.

=Martīna=, a woman skilled in the knowledge of poisonous herbs, &c.
_Tacitus_, _Annals_, bk. 2, ch. 79, &c.

=Martiniānus=, an officer, made Cæsar by ♦Licinius, to oppose
Constantine. He was put to death by order of Constantine.

♦ ‘Linicius’ replaced with ‘Licinius’

=Martius=, a surname of Jupiter in Attica, expressive of his power and
valour. _Pausanias_, bk. 5, ch. 14.――――A Roman consul sent against
Perseus, &c.――――A consul against the Dalmatians, &c.――――Another, who
defeated the Carthaginians in Spain.――――Another, who defeated the
Privernates, &c.

=Marullus=, a tribune of the people, who tore the garlands which had
been placed upon Cæsar’s statues, and who ordered those that had
saluted him king to be imprisoned. He was deprived of his consulship
by Julius Cæsar. _Plutarch._――――A governor of Judæa.――――A Latin poet
in the age of Marcus Aurelius. He satirized the emperor with great
licentiousness, but his invectives were disregarded, and himself
despised.

=Marus= (the _Morava_), a river of Germany, which separates modern
Hungary and Moravia. _Tacitus_, _Annals_, bk. 2, ch. 63.

=Massa Bæbius=, an informer at the court of Domitian. _Juvenal_,
satire 1, li. 35.

=Masæsylii=, a people of Libya, where Syphax reigned. _See:_ Massyla.

=Masinissa=, son of Gala, was king of a small part of Africa, and
assisted the Carthaginians in their wars against Rome. He proved
a most indefatigable and courageous ally, but an act of generosity
rendered him amicable to the interests of Rome. After the defeat of
Asdrubal, Scipio, the first Africanus who had obtained the victory,
found, among the prisoners of war, one of the nephews of Masinissa.
He sent him back to his uncle loaded with presents, and conducted
him with a detachment for the safety and protection of his person.
Masinissa was struck with the generous action of the Roman general;
he forgot all former hostilities, and joined his troops to those of
Scipio. This change of sentiments was not the effect of a wavering
or unsettled mind, but Masinissa showed himself the most attached
and the firmest ally the Romans ever had. It was to his exertions
they owed many of their victories in Africa, and particularly in
that battle which proved fatal to Asdrubal and Syphax. The Numidian
conqueror, charmed with the beauty of Sophonisba, the captive wife
of Syphax, carried her to his camp and married her; but when he
perceived that this new connection displeased Scipio, he sent poison
to his wife, and recommended her to destroy herself, since he could
not preserve her life in a manner which became her rank, her dignity,
and fortune, without offending his Roman allies. In the battle
of Zama, Masinissa greatly contributed to the defeat of the great
Annibal, and the Romans, who had been so often spectators of his
courage and valour, rewarded his fidelity with the kingdom of Syphax,
and some of the Carthaginian territories. At his death Masinissa
showed the confidence which he had in the Romans, and the esteem he
entertained for the rising talents of Scipio Æmilianus, by entrusting
him with the care of his kingdom, and empowering him to divide it
among his sons. Masinissa died in the 97th year of his age, after
a reign of above 60 years, 149 years before the christian era. He
experienced adversity as well as prosperity, and in the first years
of his reign he was exposed to the greatest danger, and obliged often
to save his life by seeking a retreat among his savage neighbours.
But his alliance with the Romans was the beginning of his greatness,
and he ever after lived in the greatest affluence. He is remarkable
for the health which he long enjoyed. In the last years of his
life he was seen at the head of his armies behaving with the most
indefatigable activity, and he often remained for many successive
days on horseback without a saddle under him, or a covering upon his
head, and without showing the least mark of fatigue. This strength
of mind and body he chiefly owed to the temperance which he observed.
He was seen eating brown bread at the door of his tent like a private
soldier the day after he had obtained an immortal victory over the
armies of Carthage. He left 54 sons, three of whom were legitimate,
Micipsa, Gulussa, and Manastabal. The kingdom was fairly divided
among them by Scipio, and the illegitimate children received,
as their portion, very valuable presents. The death of Gulussa
and Manastabal soon after left Micipsa sole master of the large
possessions of Masinissa. _Strabo_, bk. 17.――_Polybius._――_Appian_,
_Lybica [Punic Wars]_.――_Cicero_, _de Senectute_.――_Valerius Maximus_,
bk. 8.――_Sallust_, _Jugurthine War_.――_Livy_, bk. 25, &c.――_Ovid_,
_Fasti_, bk. 6, li. 769.――_Justin_, bk. 33, ch. 1; bk. 38, ch. 6.

=Maso=, a name common to several persons mentioned by Cicero.

=Massăga=, a town of India, taken by Alexander the Great.

=Massăgĕte=, a people of Scythia, who had their wives in common, and
dwelt in tents. They had no temples, but worshipped the sun, to
whom they offered horses, on account of their swiftness. When their
parents had come to a certain age, they generally put them to death,
and ate their flesh mixed with that of cattle. Authors are divided
with respect to the place of their residence. Some place them near
the Caspian sea, others at the north of the Danube, and some confound
them with the Getæ and the Scythians. _Horace_, bk. 1, ode 35, li.
40.――_Dionysius Periegeta_, li. 738.――_Herodotus_, bk. 1, ch. 204.
――_Strabo_, bk. 1.――_Mela_, bk. 1, ch. 2.――_Lucan_, bk. 2, li. 50.
――_Justin_, bk. 1, ch. 8.

=Massāna.= _See:_ Messana.

=Massāni=, a nation at the mouth of the Indus.

=Massĭcus=, a mountain of Campania near Minturnæ, famous for its wine,
which even now preserves its ancient character. _Pliny_, bk. 14,
ch. 6.――_Horace_, bk. 1, ode 1, li. 19.――_Virgil_, _Georgics_, bk. 2,
li. 143.――――An Etrurian prince, who assisted Æneas against Turnus
with 1000 men. _Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 10, li. 166, &c.

=Massilia=, a maritime town of Gaul Narbonensis, now called
_Marseilles_, founded B.C. 539, by the people of Phocæa, in Asia,
who quitted their country to avoid the tyranny of the Persians. It
is celebrated for its laws, its fidelity for the Romans, and for
its being long the seat of literature. It acquired great consequence
by its commercial pursuits during its infancy, and even waged
war against Carthage. By becoming the ally of Rome, its power was
established; but in warmly espousing the cause of Pompey against
Cæsar, its views were frustrated, and it was so much reduced by
the insolence and resentment of the conqueror, that it never after
recovered its independence and warlike spirit. _Herodotus_, bk. 1,
ch. 164.――_Pliny_, bk. 3, ch. 4.――_Justin_, bk. 37, &c.――_Strabo_,
bk. 1.――_Livy_, bk. 5, ch. 3.――_Horace_, epode 16.――_Florus_, bk. 4,
ch. 2.――_Cicero_, _For Flaccus_, ch. 26; _De Officiis_, bk. 2,
♦ch. 28.――_Tacitus_, _Annals_, bk. 4, ch. 44; _Agricola_, ch. 4.

♦ ‘8’ replaced with ‘28’

=Massȳla=, an inland part of Mauritania near mount Atlas. When the
inhabitants, called _Massyli_, went on horseback, they never used
saddles or bridles, but only sticks. Their character was warlike,
their manners simple, and their love of liberty unconquerable. Some
suppose them to be the same as the Masæylii, though others say half
the country belonged only to this last-mentioned people. _Livy_,
bk. 24, ch. 48; bk. 28, ch. 17; bk. 29, ch. 32.――_Silius Italicus_,
bk. 3, li. 282; bk. 16, li. 171.――_Lucan_, bk. 4, li. 682.――_Virgil_,
_Æneid_, bk. 4, li. 132.

=Mastramela=, a lake near Marseilles, now _mer de Martegues_. _Pliny_,
bk. 3, ch. 4.

=Măsŭrius=, a Roman knight under Tiberius, learned, but poor. _Persius_,
bk. 5, li. 90.

=Masus Domitius=, a Latin poet. _See:_ Domitius.

=Matho=, an infamous informer, patronized by Domitian. _Juvenal_,
satire 1, li. 32.

=Matiēni=, a people in the neighbourhood of Armenia.

=Matĭnus=, a mountain of Apulia, abounding in yew trees and bees.
_Lucan_, bk. 9, li. 184.――_Horace_, bk. 4, ode 2, li. 27; epode 16,
li. 28.

=Matisco=, a town of the Ædui in Gaul, now called _Macon_.

=Matrālia=, a festival at Rome, in honour of Matuta or Ino. Only matrons
and freeborn women were admitted. They made offerings of flowers, and
carried their relations’ children in their arms, recommending them to
the care and patronage of the goddess whom they worshipped. _Varro_,
_de Lingua Latina_, bk. 5, ch. 22.――_Ovid_, _Fasti_, bk. 6, li. 47.
――_Plutarch_, _Camillus_.

=Matrōna=, a river of Gaul, now called the _Marne_, falling into the
Seine. _Ausonius_, _Mosella_, li. 462.――――One of the surnames of Juno,
because she presided over marriage and over child-birth.

=Matronālia=, festivals at Rome in honour of Mars, celebrated by
married women, in commemoration of the rape of the Sabines, and of
the peace which their intreaties had obtained between their fathers
and husbands. Flowers were then offered in the temples of Juno.
_Ovid_, _Fasti_, bk. 3, li. 229.――_Plutarch_, _Romulus_.

=Mattiăci=, a nation of Germany, now _Marpurg_, in Hesse. The _Mattiacæ
aquæ_ was a small town, now _Wisbaden_, opposite Mentz. _Tacitus_,
_Germania_, ch. 29; _Annals_, bk. 1, ch. 56.

=Mātūta=, a deity among the Romans, the same as the Leucothoe of the
Greeks. She was originally Ino, who was changed into a sea deity
[_See:_ Ino and Leucothoe], and she was worshipped by sailors as such,
at Corinth, in a temple sacred to Neptune. Only married women and
freeborn matrons were permitted to enter her temples at Rome, where
they generally brought the children of their relations in their arms.
_Livy_, bk. 5, &c.――_Cicero_, _de Natura Deorum_, bk. 3, li. 19.

=Mavors=, a name of Mars. _See:_ Mars.

=Mavortia=, an epithet applied to every country whose inhabitants were
warlike, but especially to Rome, founded by the reputed son of Mavors.
_Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 1, li. 280, and to Thrace, _Æneid_, bk. 3,
li. 13.

=Mauri=, the inhabitants of Mauritania. This name is derived from their
black complexion (μαυροι). Everything among them grew in greater
abundance and greater perfection than in other countries. _Strabo_,
bk. 17.――_Martial_, bk. 5, ltr. 29; bk. 12, ltr. 67.――_Silius
Italicus_, bk. 4, li. 569; bk. 10, li. 402.――_Mela_, bk. 1, ch. 5;
bk. 3, ch. 10.――_Justin_, bk. 19, ch. 2.――_Sallust_, _Jugurthine War_.
――_Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 4, li. 206.

=Mauritānia=, a country on the western part of Africa, which forms the
modern kingdom of _Fez_ and _Morocco_. It was bounded on the west by
the Atlantic, south by Gætulia, and north by the Mediterranean, and
is sometimes called _Maurusia_. It became a Roman province in the
reign of the emperor Claudius. _See:_ Mauri.

=Maurus=, a man who flourished in the reign of Trajan, or, according to
others, of the Antonini. He was governor of Syene, in Upper Egypt. He
wrote a Latin poem upon the rules of poetry and versification.

=Maurūsii=, the people of Maurusia, a country near the columns of
Hercules. It is also called Mauritania. _See:_ Mauritania. _Virgil_,
_Æneid_, bk. 4, li. 206.

=Mausōlus=, a king of Caria. His wife Artemisia was so disconsolate
at his death, which happened B.C. 353, that she drank up his ashes,
and resolved to erect one of the grandest and noblest monuments of
antiquity, to celebrate the memory of a husband whom she tenderly
loved. This famous monument, which passed for one of the seven
wonders of the world, was called _Mausoleum_, and from it all other
magnificent sepulchres and tombs have received the same name. It was
built by four different architects. Scopas erected the side which
faced the east, Timotheus had the south, Leochares had the west, and
Bruxis the north. Pithis was also employed in raising a pyramid over
this stately monument, and the top was adorned by a chariot drawn by
four horses. The expenses of this edifice were immense, and this gave
an occasion to the philosopher Anaxagoras to exclaim, when he saw it,
“How much money changed into stones!” _See:_ Artemisia. _Herodotus_,
bk. 7, ch. 99.――_Strabo_, bk. 14.――_Diodorus_, bk. 16.――_Pausanias_,
bk. 8, ch. 16.――_Florus_, bk. 4, ch. 11.――_Aulus Gellius_, bk. 10, ch.
18.――_Propertius_, bk. 3, poem 2, li. 21.――_Suetonius_, _Augustus_,
ch. 100.

=Maxentius Marcus Aurelius Valerius=, a son of the emperor Maximianus
Hercules. Some suppose him to have been a supposititious child. The
voluntary abdication of Diocletian, and of his father, raised him in
the state, and he declared himself independent emperor, or Augustus,
A.D. 306. He afterwards incited his father to reassume his imperial
authority, and in a perfidious manner destroyed Severus, who had
delivered himself into his hands and relied upon his honour for
the safety of his life. His victories and successes were impeded
by Galerius Maximianus, who opposed him with a powerful force. The
defeat and voluntary death of Galerius soon restored peace to Italy,
and Maxentius passed into Africa, where he rendered himself odious
by his cruelty and oppression. He soon after returned to Rome, and
was informed that Constantine was come to dethrone him. He gave his
adversary battle near Rome, and, after he had lost the victory, he
fled back to the city. The bridge over which he crossed the Tiber
was in a decayed state, and he fell into the river and was drowned,
on the 24th of September, A.D. 317. The cowardice and luxuries of
Maxentius are as conspicuous as his cruelties. He oppressed his
subjects with heavy taxes to gratify the cravings of his pleasures,
or the avarice of his favourites. He was debauched in his manners,
and neither virtue nor innocence were safe whenever he was inclined
to voluptuous pursuits. He was naturally deformed, and of an unwieldy
body. To visit a pleasure ground, or to exercise himself under a
marble portico, or to walk on a shady terrace, was to him a Herculean
labour, which required the greatest exertions of strength and
resolution.

=Cornelius Maximiliāna=, a vestal virgin, buried alive for incontinency,
A.D. 92.