Chapter M (3)

=Maximiānus Herculius Marcus Aurelius Valerius=, a native of Sirmium,
in Pannonia, who served as a common soldier in the Roman armies. When
Diocletian had been raised to the imperial throne, he remembered the
valour and courage of his fellow-soldier Maximianus, and rewarded
his fidelity by making him his colleague in the empire, and by ceding
to him the command of the provinces of Italy, Africa, and Spain,
and the rest of the western territories of Rome. Maximianus showed
the justness of the choice of Diocletian by his victories over the
barbarians. In Britain success did not attend his arms; but in Africa
he defeated and put to death Aurelius Julianus, who had proclaimed
himself emperor. Soon after Diocletian abdicated the imperial purple,
and obliged Maximianus to follow his example on the 1st of April,
A.D. 304. Maximianus reluctantly complied with the command of a
man to whom he owed his greatness, but before the first year of his
resignation had elapsed, he was roused from his indolence and retreat
by the ambition of his son Maxentius. He reassumed the imperial
dignity, and showed his ingratitude to his son by wishing him to
resign the sovereignty, and to sink into a private person. This
proposal was not only rejected with the contempt which it deserved,
but the troops mutinied against Maximianus, and he fled for safety
to Gaul, to the court of Constantine, to whom he gave his daughter
Faustina in marriage. Here he again acted a conspicuous character,
and reassumed the imperial power, which his misfortunes had obliged
him to relinquish. This offended Constantine. But, when open violence
seemed to frustrate the ambitious views of Maximianus, he had
recourse to artifice. He prevailed upon his daughter Faustina
to leave the doors of her chamber open in the dead of night; and
when she promised faithfully to execute his commands, he secretly
introduced himself to her bed, where he stabbed to the heart the
man who slept by the side of his daughter. This was not Constantine;
Faustina, faithful to her husband, had apprised him of her father’s
machinations, and a eunuch had been placed in his bed. Constantine
watched the motions of his father-in-law, and when he heard the
fatal blow given to the eunuch, he rushed in with a band of soldiers,
and secured the assassin. Constantine resolved to destroy a man
who was so inimical to his nearest relations, and nothing was left
to Maximianus but to choose his own death. He strangled himself at
Marseilles, A.D. 310, in the 60th year of his age. His body was found
fresh and entire in a leaden coffin about the middle of the 11th
century.――――Galerius Valerius, a native of Dacia, who, in the first
years of his life, was employed in keeping his father’s flocks. He
entered the army, where his valour and bodily strength recommended
him to the notice of his superiors, and particularly to Diocletian,
who invested him with the imperial purple in the east, and gave him
his daughter Valeria in marriage. Galerius deserved the confidence
of his benefactor. He conquered the Goths and Dalmatians, and checked
the insolence of the Persians. In a battle, however, with the king
of Persia, Galerius was defeated; and, to complete his ignominy,
and render him more sensible of his disgrace, Diocletian obliged
him to walk behind his chariot arrayed in his imperial robes. This
humiliation stung Galerius to the quick; he assembled another army,
and gave battle to the Persians. He gained a complete victory,
and took the wives and children of his enemy. This success elated
Galerius to such a degree, that he claimed the most dignified
appellations, and ordered himself to be called the son of Mars.
Diocletian himself dreaded his power, and even, it is said, abdicated
the imperial dignity by means of his threats. This resignation,
however, is attributed by some to a voluntary act of the mind, and to
a desire of enjoying solitude and retirement. As soon as Diocletian
had abdicated, Galerius was proclaimed Augustus, A.D. 304, but his
cruelty soon rendered him odious, and the Roman people, offended
at his oppression, raised Maxentius to the imperial dignity the
following year, and Galerius was obliged to yield to the torrent of
his unpopularity, and to fly before his more fortunate adversary.
He died in the greatest agonies, A.D. 311. The bodily pains and
sufferings which preceded his death were, according to the christian
writers, the effects of the vengeance of an offended providence for
the cruelty which he had exercised against the followers of Christ.
In his character Galerius was wanton and tyrannical, and he often
feasted his eyes with the sight of dying wretches, whom his barbarity
had delivered to bears and other wild beasts. His aversion to learned
men arose from his ignorance of letters; and, if he was deprived
of the benefits of education, he proved the more cruel and the
more inexorable. _Lactantius_, _de Mortibus Persecutorum_, ch. 33.
――_Eusebius_, bk. 8, ch. 16.

=Maximīnus Caius Julius Verus=, the son of a peasant in Thrace. He
was originally a shepherd, and, by heading his countrymen against
the frequent attacks of the neighbouring barbarians and robbers,
he inured himself to the labours and to the fatigues of a camp.
He entered the Roman armies, where he gradually rose to the first
offices; and on the death of Alexander Severus he caused himself to
be proclaimed emperor, A. D. 235. The popularity which he had gained
when general of the armies, was at an end when he ascended the throne.
He was delighted with acts of the greatest barbarity, and no less
than 400 persons lost their lives on the false suspicion of having
conspired against the emperor’s life. They died in the greatest
torments, and, that the tyrant might the better entertain himself
with their sufferings, some were exposed to wild beasts, others
expired by blows, some were nailed on crosses, while others were shut
up in the bellies of animals just killed. The noblest of the Roman
citizens were the objects of his cruelty; and, as if they were more
conscious than others of his mean origin, he resolved to spare no
means to remove from his presence a number of men whom he looked
upon with an eye of envy, and who, as he imagined, hated him for his
oppression, and despised him for the poverty and obscurity of his
early years. Such is the character of the suspicious and tyrannical
Maximinus. In his military capacity he acted with the same ferocity;
and, in an expedition in Germany, he not only cut down the corn, but
he totally ruined and set fire to the whole country, to the extent of
450 miles. Such a monster of tyranny at last provoked the people of
Rome. The Gordians were proclaimed emperors, but their innocence and
pacific virtues were unable to resist the fury of Maximinus. After
their fall, the Roman senate invested 20 men of their number with
the imperial dignity and entrusted into their hands the care of the
republic. These measures so highly irritated Maximinus, that at the
first intelligence, he howled like a wild beast, and almost destroyed
himself by knocking his head against the walls of his palace. When
his fury was abated he marched to Rome, resolved on slaughter.
His bloody machinations were stopped, and his soldiers, ashamed of
accompanying a tyrant whose cruelties had procured him the name of
Busiris, Cyclops, and Phalaris, assassinated him in his tent before
the walls of Aquileia, A.D. 236, in the 65th year of his age. The
news of his death was received with the greatest rejoicings at Rome;
public thanksgivings were offered, and whole hecatombs flamed on
the altars. Maximinus has been represented by historians as of a
gigantic stature; he was eight feet high, and the bracelets of his
wife served as rings to adorn the fingers of his hand. His voracity
was as remarkable as his corpulence; he generally ate 40 pounds
of flesh every day, and drank 18 bottles of wine. His strength was
proportionable to his gigantic shape; he could alone draw a loaded
waggon, and, with a blow of his fist, he often broke the teeth in a
horse’s mouth; he also broke the hardest stones between his fingers,
and cleft trees with his hand. _Herodian._――_Jornandes_, _Getica_.
――_Capitol._ Maximinus made his son, of the same name, emperor,
as soon as he was invested with the purple, and his choice was
unanimously approved by the senate, by the people, and by the army.
――――Galerius Valerius, a shepherd of Thrace, who was raised to the
imperial dignity by Diocletian, A.D. 305. He was nephew to Galerius
Maximianus, by his mother’s side, and to him he was indebted for his
rise and consequence in the Roman armies. As Maximinus was ambitious
and fond of power, he looked with an eye of jealousy upon those who
shared the dignity of emperor with himself. He declared war against
Licinius, his colleague on the throne, but a defeat, which soon
after followed, on the 30th of April, A.D. 313, between Heraclea
and Adrianopolis, left him without resources and without friends.
His victorious enemy pursued him, and he fled beyond mount Taurus,
forsaken and almost unknown. He attempted to put an end to his
miserable existence, but his efforts were ineffectual, and though
his death is attributed by some to despair, it is more universally
believed that he expired in the greatest agonies of a dreadful
distemper, which consumed him, day and night, with inexpressible
pains, and reduced him to a mere skeleton. This miserable end,
according to the ecclesiastical writers, was the visible punishment
of heaven, for the barbarities which Maximinus had exercised against
the followers of christianity, and for the many blasphemies which he
had uttered. _Lactantius._――_Eusebius._――――A minister of the emperor
Valerian.――――One of the ambassadors of young Theodosius to Attila
king of the Huns.

=Maxĭmus Magnus=, a native of Spain, who proclaimed himself emperor,
A.D. 383. The unpopularity of Gratian favoured his usurpation, and
he was acknowledged by his troops. Gratian marched against him, but
he was defeated, and soon after assassinated. Maximus refused the
honours of a burial to the remains of Gratian; and, when he had
made himself master of Britain, Gaul, and Spain, he sent ambassadors
into the east, and demanded of the emperor Theodosius to acknowledge
him as his associate on the throne. Theodosius endeavoured to amuse
and delay him, but Maximus resolved to support his claim by arms,
and crossed the Alps. Italy was laid desolate, and Rome opened her
gates to the conqueror. Theodosius now determined to revenge the
audaciousness of Maximus, and had recourse to artifice. He began
to make a naval armament, and Maximus, not to appear inferior to
his adversary, had already embarked his troops, when Theodosius,
by secret and hastened marches, fell upon him, and besieged him at
Aquileia. Maximus was betrayed by his soldiers, and the conqueror,
moved with compassion at the sight of his fallen and dejected enemy,
granted him life, but the multitude refused him mercy, and instantly
struck off his head, A.D. 388. His son Victor, who shared the
imperial dignity with him, was soon after sacrificed to the fury
of the soldiers.――――Petronius, a Roman, descended of an illustrious
family. He caused Valentinian III. to be assassinated, and ascended
the throne; and, to strengthen his usurpation, he married the empress,
to whom he had the weakness and imprudence to betray that he had
sacrificed her husband to his love for her person. This declaration
irritated the empress; she had recourse to the barbarians to avenge
the death of Valentinian, and Maximus was stoned to death by his
soldiers, and his body thrown into the Tiber, A.D. 455. He reigned
only 77 days.――――Pupianus. _See:_ ♦Pupianus.――――A celebrated cynic
philosopher and magician of Ephesus. He instructed the emperor Julian
in magic; and according to the opinion of some historians, it was in
the conversation and company of Maximus that the apostacy of Julian
originated. The emperor not only visited the philosopher, but he even
submitted his writings to his inspection and censure. Maximus refused
to live in the court of Julian, and the emperor, not dissatisfied
with the refusal, appointed him high pontiff in the province of
Lydia, an office which he discharged with the greatest moderation and
justice. When Julian went into the east, the philosopher promised him
success, and even said that his conquests would be more numerous and
extensive than those of the son of Philip. He persuaded his imperial
pupil that, according to the doctrine of metempsychosis, his body
was animated by the soul which once animated the hero whose greatness
and victories he was going to eclipse. After the death of Julian,
Maximus was almost sacrificed to the fury of the soldiers, but
the interposition of his friends saved his life, and he retired to
Constantinople. He was soon after accused of magical practices before
the emperor Valens, and beheaded at Ephesus, A.D. 366. He wrote some
philosophical and rhetorical treatises, some of which were dedicated
to Julian. They are all now lost. _Ammianus._――――Tyrius, a Platonic
philosopher in the reign of Marcus Aurelius. This emperor, who was
naturally fond of study, became one of the pupils of Maximus, and
paid great deference to his instructions. There are extant of Maximus
41 dissertations on moral and philosophical subjects, written in
Greek, the best editions of which are that of Davis, 8vo, Cambridge,
1703; and that of Reiske, 2 vols., 8vo, Lipscomb, 1774.――――One of
the Greek fathers of the seventh century, whose works were edited
by Combesis, 2 vols., folio, Paris, 1675.――――Paulus Fabius, a consul
with Marcus Antony’s son. Horace speaks of him, bk. 4, ode 1, li. 10,
as of a gay, handsome youth, fond of pleasure, yet industrious
and indefatigable.――――An epithet applied to Jupiter, as being the
greatest and most powerful of all the gods.――――A native of Sirmium,
in Pannonia. He was originally a gardener, but, by enlisting in the
Roman army, he became one of the military tribunes, and his marriage
with a woman of rank and opulence soon rendered him independent. He
was father to the emperor Probus.――――A general of Trajan, killed in
the eastern provinces.――――One of the murderers of Domitian, &c.――――A
philosopher, native of Byzantium, in the age of Julian the emperor.

♦ Reference not found.

=Mazăca=, a large city of Cappadocia, the capital of the province. It
was called Cæsarea by Tiberius, in honour of Augustus.

=Mazāces=, a Persian governor of Memphis. He made a sally against the
Grecian soldiers of Alexander, and killed great numbers of them.
_Curtius_, bk. 4, ch. 1.

=Mazæus=, a satrap of Cilicia, under Artaxerxes Ochus.――――A governor
of Babylon, son-in-law to Darius. He surrendered to Alexander, &c.
_Curtius_, bk. 5, ch. 1.

=Mazāres=, a satrap of Media, who reduced Priene under the power of
Cyrus. _Herodotus_, bk. 1, ch. 161.

=Mazaxes= (singular, Mazax), a people of Africa, famous for shooting
arrows. _Lucan_, bk. 4, li. 681.

=Mazĕras=, a river of Hyrcania, falling into the Caspian sea.
_Plutarch._

=Mazīces= and =Mazȳges=, a people of Libya, very expert in the use of
missile weapons. The Romans made use of them as couriers, on account
of their great swiftness. _Suetonius_, _Nero_, ch. 30.――_Lucan_,
bk. 4, li. 684.

=Mecænas=, or =Mecœnas Caius ♦Cilnius=, a celebrated Roman knight,
descended from the kings of Etruria. He has rendered himself immortal
by his liberal patronage of learned men and of letters; and to his
prudence and advice Augustus acknowledged himself indebted for the
security which he enjoyed. His fondness for pleasure removed him
from the reach of ambition, and he preferred to die, as he was born,
a Roman knight, to all the honours and dignities which either the
friendship of Augustus or his own popularity could heap upon him. It
was from the result of his advice, against the opinion of Agrippa,
that Augustus resolved to keep the supreme power in his hands, and
not by a voluntary resignation to plunge Rome into civil commotions.
The emperor received the private admonitions of Mecœnas in the
same friendly manner as they were given, and he was not displeased
with the liberty of his friend, who threw a paper to him with these
words, “Descend from the tribunal, thou butcher!” while he sat in the
judgment-seat, and betrayed revenge and impatience in his countenance.
He was struck with the admonition, and left the tribunal without
passing sentence of death on the criminals. To the interference of
Mecœnas, Virgil owed the restitution of his lands, and Horace was
proud to boast that his learned friend had obtained his forgiveness
from the emperor, for joining the cause of Brutus at the battle of
Philippi. Mecœnas was himself fond of literature, and, according to
the most received opinion, he wrote a history of animals, a journal
of the life of Augustus, a treatise on the different natures and
kinds of precious stones, besides the two tragedies of Octavia and
Prometheus, and other things, all now lost. He died eight years
before Christ; and, on his death-bed, he particularly recommended his
poetical friend Horace to the care and confidence of Augustus. Seneca,
who has liberally commended the genius and abilities of Mecœnas,
has not withheld his censure from his dissipation, indolence, and
effeminate luxury. From the patronage and encouragement which the
princes of heroic and lyric poetry among the Latins received from
the favourite of Augustus, all patrons of literature have ever since
been called _Mecœnates_. Virgil dedicated to him his Georgics, and
Horace his odes. _Suetonius_, _Augustus_, ch. 66, &c.――_Plutarch_,
_Augustus_.――_Herodian_, bk. 7.――_Seneca_, ltrs. 19 & 92.

♦ ‘Cilnus’ replaced with ‘Cilnius’

=Mechaneus=, a surname of Jupiter, from his patronizing undertakings.
He had a statue near the temple of Ceres at Argos, and there the
people swore, before they went to the Trojan war, either to conquer
or to perish. _Pausanias_, bk. 2, ch. 22.

=Mecisteus=, son of Echius, or Talaus, was one of the companions of
Ajax. He was killed by Polydamus. _Homer_, _Iliad_, bk. 6, li. 28,
&c.――――A son of Lycaon. _Apollodorus._

=Mecrida=, the wife of Lysimachus. _Polyænus_, bk. 6.

=Mēdēa=, a celebrated magician, daughter of Æetes king of Colchis.
Her mother’s name, according to the more received opinion of Hesiod
and Hyginus, was Idyia, or, according to others, Ephyre, Hecate,
Asterodia, Antiope, or Neræa. She was the niece of Circe. When Jason
came to Colchis in quest of the golden fleece, Medea became enamoured
of him, and it was to her well-directed labours that the Argonauts
owed their preservation. _See:_ Jason and Argonautæ. Medea had an
interview with her lover in the temple of Hecate, where they bound
themselves by the most solemn oaths, and mutually promised eternal
fidelity. No sooner had Jason overcome all the difficulties which
Æetes had placed in his way, than Medea embarked with the conquerors
for Greece. To stop the pursuit of her father, she tore to pieces
her brother Absyrtus, and left his mangled limbs in the way through
which Æetes was to pass. This act of barbarity some have attributed
to Jason, and not to her. When Jason reached Iolchos, his native
country, the return and victories of the Argonauts were celebrated
with universal rejoicings; but Æson the father of Jason was unable
to assist at the solemnity, on account of the infirmities of his age.
Medea, at her husband’s request, removed the weakness of Æson, and
by drawing away the blood from his veins, and filling them again
with the juice of certain herbs, she restored to him the vigour
and sprightliness of youth. This sudden change in Æson astonished
the inhabitants of Iolchos, and the daughters of Pelias were also
desirous to see their father restored, by the same power, to the
vigour of youth. Medea, willing to revenge the injuries which her
husband’s family had suffered from Pelias, increased their curiosity,
and by cutting to pieces an old ram and making it again, in their
presence, a young lamb, she totally determined them to try the same
experiment upon their father’s body. They accordingly killed him
of their own accord, and boiled his flesh in a cauldron; but Medea
refused to perform the same friendly offices to Pelias which she had
done to Æson, and he was consumed by the heat of the fire, and even
deprived of a burial. This action greatly irritated the people of
Iolchos, and Medea, with her husband, fled to Corinth to avoid the
resentment of an offended populace. Here they lived for 10 years
with much conjugal tenderness; but the love of Jason for Glauce, the
king’s daughter, soon interrupted their mutual harmony, and Medea was
divorced. Medea revenged the infidelity of Jason by causing the death
of Glauce, and the destruction of her family. _See:_ Glauce. This
action was followed by another still more atrocious. Medea killed two
of her children in their father’s presence, and when Jason attempted
to punish the barbarity of the mother, she fled through the air upon
a chariot drawn by winged dragons. From Corinth Medea came to Athens,
where, after she had undergone the necessary purification of her
murder, she married king Ægeus, or, according to others, lived in an
adulterous manner with him. From her connection with Ægeus, Medea had
a son, who was called Medus. Soon after, when Theseus wished to make
himself known to his father [_See:_ Ægeus], Medea, jealous of his
fame, and fearful of his power, attempted to poison him at a feast
which had been prepared for his entertainment. Her attempts, however,
failed of success, and the sight of the sword which Theseus wore by
his side, convinced Ægeus that the stranger against whose life he
had so basely conspired was no less than his own son. The father and
the son were reconciled, and Medea, to avoid the punishment which
her wickedness deserved, mounted her fiery chariot, and disappeared
through the air. She came to Colchis, where, according to some, she
was reconciled to Jason, who had sought her in her native country
after her sudden departure from Corinth. She died at Colchis, as
Justin mentions, when she had been restored to the confidence of
her family. After death she married Achilles in the Elysian fields,
according to the traditions mentioned by Simonides. The murder of
Mermerus and Pheres, the youngest of Jason’s children by Medea,
is not attributed to their mother according to Ælian, but the
Corinthians themselves assassinated them in the temple of Juno Acræa.
To avoid the resentment of the gods, and deliver themselves from the
pestilence which visited their country after so horrid a massacre,
they engaged the poet Euripides, for five talents, to write a tragedy,
which cleared them of the murder, and represented Medea as the cruel
assassin of her own children. And besides, that this opinion might
be the better credited, festivals were appointed, in which the mother
was represented with all the barbarity of a fury murdering her own
sons. _See:_ Heræa. _Apollodorus_, bk. 1, ch. 9.――_Hyginus_, fables
21, 22, 23, &c.――_Plutarch_, _Theseus_.――_Dionysius Periegetes._
――_Ælian_, _Varia Historia_, bk. 5, ch. 21.――_Pausanias_, bk. 2, ch.
3; bk. 8, ch. 11.――_Euripides_, _Medea_.――_Diodorus_, bk. 4. ――_Ovid_,
_Metamorphoses_, bk. 7, fable 1; _Medicamina Faciei Femineæ_.
――_Strabo_, bk. 7.――_Cicero_, _de Natura Deorum_, bk. 3, ch. 19.
――_Apollonius_, _Argonautica_, bk. 3, &c.――_Orpheus._――_Flaccus._
――_Lucan_, bk. 4, li. 556.

=Medesicaste=, a daughter of Priam, who married Imbrius son of Mentor,
who was killed by Teucer during the Trojan war. _Homer_, _Iliad_,
bk. 13, ch. 172.――_Apollodorus_, bk. 3.

=Media=, a celebrated country of Asia, bounded on the north by the
Caspian sea, west by Armenia, south by Persia, and east by Parthia
and Hyrcania. It was originally called _Aria_, till the age of Medus
the son of Medea, who gave it the name of Media. The province of
Media was first raised into a kingdom by its revolt from the Assyrian
monarchy, B.C. 820; and after it had for some time enjoyed a kind of
republican government, Deioces, by his artifice, procured himself to
be called king, 700 B.C. After a reign of 53 years he was succeeded
by Phraortes, B.C. 647; who was succeeded by Cyaxares, B.C. 625. His
successor was Astyages, B.C. 585, in whose reign Cyrus became master
of Media, B.C. 551; and ever after the empire was transferred to the
Persians. The Medes were warlike in the primitive ages of their power;
they encouraged polygamy, and were remarkable for the homage which
they paid to their sovereigns, who were styled kings of kings. This
title was afterwards adopted by their conquerors the Persians, and it
was still in use in the age of the Roman emperors. _Justin_, bk. 1,
ch. 5.――_Herodotus_, bk. 1, &c.――_Polybius_, bks. 5 & 10.――_Curtius_,
bk. 5, &c.――_Diodorus Siculus_, bk. 13.――_Ctesias._

=Medias=, a tyrant of Mysia, &c.

=Medĭcus=, a prince of Larissa, in Thessaly, who made war against
Lycophron tyrant of Pheræ. _Diodorus_, bk. 14.

=Mediolānum=, now _Milan_, the capital of Insubria at the mouth of the
Po. _Livy_, bk. 5, ch. 34; bk. 34, ch. 46.――――Aulercorum, a town of
Gaul, now _Evreux_, in Normandy.――――Santŏnum, another, now _Saintes_,
in Guienne.

=Mediomatrices=, a nation that lived on the borders of the Rhine, now
_Metz_. _Strabo_, bk. 4.――_Cæsar_, _Gallic War_, bk. 4, ch. 10.

=Mediterraneum mare=, a sea which divides Europe and Asia Minor from
Africa. It receives its name from its situation, _medio terræ_,
situate in _the middle of the land_. It has a communication with the
Atlantic by the columns of Hercules, and with the Euxine through the
Ægean. The word Mediterraneum does not occur in the classics; but it
is sometimes called _internum_, _nostrum_, or _medius liquor_, and
is frequently denominated in Scripture the _Great_ sea. The first
naval power that ever obtained the command of it, as recorded in
the fabulous epochs of the writer Castor, was Crete, under Minos.
Afterwards it passed into the hands of the Lydians, B.C. 1179; of the
Pelasgi, 1058; of the Thracians, 1000; of the Rhodians, 916; of the
Phrygians, 893; of the Cyprians, 868; of the Phœnicians, 826; of the
Egyptians, 787; of the Milesians, 753; of the Carians, 734; and of
the Lesbians, 676, which they retained for 69 years. _Horace_, bk. 3,
ode 3, li. 46.――_Pliny_, bk. 2, ch. 668.――_Sallust_, _Jugurthine War_,
ch. 17.――_Cæsar_, _Gallic War_, bk. 5, ch. 1.――_Livy_, bk. 26, ch. 42.

=Meditrīna=, the goddess of medicines, whose festivals, called
_Meditrinalia_, were celebrated at Rome the last day of September,
when they made offerings of fruits. _Varro_, _de Lingua Latina_,
bk. 5, ch. 3.

=Medoacus=, or =Meduacus=, a river in the country of the Veneti, falling
into the Adriatic sea. _Livy_, bk. 10, ch. 2.

=Medobithyni=, a people of Thrace.

=Medobriga=, a town of Lusitania, now destroyed. _Hirtius_, ch. 48.

=Medon=, son of Codrus, the seventeenth and last king of Athens, was
the first Archon that was appointed with regal authority, B.C. 1070.
In the election Medon was preferred to his brother Neleus, by the
oracle of Delphi, and he rendered himself popular by the justice and
moderation of his administration. His successors were called from him
_Medontidæ_, and the office of archon remained for above 200 years in
the family of Codrus under 12 perpetual archons. _Pausanias_, bk. 7,
ch. 2.――_Paterculus_, bk. 2, ch. 2.――――A man killed in the Trojan war.
Æneas saw him in the infernal regions. _Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 6, li.
483.――――A statuary of Lacedæmon, who made a famous statue of Minerva,
seen in the temple of Juno at Olympia. _Pausanias_, bk. 7, ch. 17.
――――One of the Centaurs, &c. _Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 12, li. 303.
――――One of the Tyrrhene sailors changed into dolphins by Bacchus.
_Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 3, li. 671.――――A river of Peloponnesus.
――――An illegitimate son of Ajax Oileus. _Homer._――――One of Penelope’s
suitors. _Ovid_, _Heroides_, poem 1.――――A man of Cyzicus, killed by
the Argonauts.――――A king of Argos, who died about 990 years B.C.――――A
son of Pylades by Electra. _Pausanias_, bk. 2, ch. 16.

=Medontias=, a woman of Abydos, with whom Alcibiades cohabited as with
a wife. She had a daughter, &c. _Lysias._

=Meduacus=, two rivers (_Major_, now _Brenta_, and _Minor_, now
_Bachilione_), falling, near Venice, into the Adriatic sea. _Pliny_,
bk. 3, ch. 16.――_Livy_, bk. 10, ch. 2.

=Meduana=, a river of Gaul, flowing into the Ligeris, now the _Mayne_.
_Lucan_, bk. 1, li. 438.

=Medullīna=, a Roman virgin ravished by her father, &c. _Plutarch_,
_Parallela minora_.――――An infamous courtesan in Juvenal’s age,
satire 6, li. 321.

=Medus=, now _Kur_, a river of Media, falling into the Araxes. Some
take Medus adjectively, as applying to any of the great rivers of
Media. _Strabo_, bk. 15.――_Horace_, bk. 2, ode 9, li. 21.――――A son
of Ægeus and Medea, who gave his name to a country of Asia. Medus,
when arrived to years of maturity, went to seek his mother, whom the
arrival of Theseus in Athens had driven away. _See:_ Medea. He came
to Colchis, where he was seized by his uncle Perses, who usurped the
throne of Æetes, his mother’s father, because the oracle had declared
that Perses should be murdered by one of the grandsons of Æetes.
Medus assumed another name, and called himself Hippotes son of Creon.
Meanwhile Medea arrived in Colchis, disguised in the habit of a
priestess of Diana, and when she heard that one of Creon’s children
was imprisoned, she resolved to hasten the destruction of a person
whose family she detested. To effect this with more certainty, she
told the usurper that Hippotes was really a son of Medea, sent by his
mother to murder him. She begged Perses to give her Hippotes, that
she might sacrifice him to her resentment. Perses consented. Medea
discovered that it was her own son, and she instantly armed him with
the dagger which she had prepared against his life, and ordered him
to stab the usurper. He obeyed, and Medea discovered who he was,
and made her son Medus sit on his grandfather’s throne. _Hesiod_,
_Theogony_.――_Pausanias_, bk. 2.――_Apollodorus_, bk. 1.――_Justin_,
bk. 42.――_Seneca_, _Medea_.――_Diodorus._

=Medūsa=, one of the three Gorgons, daughter of Phorcys and Ceto. She
was the only one of the Gorgons who was subject to mortality. She
is celebrated for her personal charms and the beauty of her locks.
Neptune became enamoured of her, and obtained her favours in the
temple of Minerva. This violation of the sanctity of the temple
provoked Minerva, and she changed the beautiful locks of Medusa,
which had inspired Neptune’s love, into serpents. According to
Apollodorus and others, Medusa and her sisters came into the world
with snakes on their heads, instead of hair, with yellow wings and
brazen hands. Their bodies were also covered with impenetrable scales,
and their very looks had the power of killing or turning to stones.
Perseus rendered his name immortal by his conquest of Medusa. He
cut off her head, and the blood that dropped from the wound produced
the innumerable serpents that infest Africa. The conqueror placed
Medusa’s head on the ægis of Minerva, which he had used in his
expedition. The head still retained the same petrifying power as
before, as it was fatally known in the court of Cepheus. _See:_
Andromeda. Some suppose that the Gorgons were a nation of women,
whom Perseus conquered. _See:_ Gorgones. _Apollodorus_, bk. 2, ch. 4.
――_Hesiod_, _Theogony_.――_Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 4, li. 618.
――_Lucan_, bk. 9, li. 624.――_Apollonius_, bk. 4.――_Hyginus_ fable 151.
――――A daughter of Priam.――――A daughter of Sthenelus. _Apollodorus._

=Megabizi=, certain priests in Diana’s temple at Ephesus. They were all
eunuchs. _Quintilian_, bk. 5, ch. 12.

=Megabyzus=, one of the noble Persians who conspired against the
usurper Smerdis. He was set over an army in Europe by king Darius,
where he took Perinthus and conquered all Thrace. He was greatly
esteemed by his sovereign. _Herodotus_, bk. 3, &c.――――A son of
Zopyrus, satrap to Darius. He conquered Egypt, &c. _Herodotus_,
bk. 3, ch. 160.――――A satrap of Artaxerxes. He revolted from his
king, and defeated two large armies that had been sent against him.
The interference of his friends restored him to the king’s favour,
and he showed his attachment to Artaxerxes by killing a lion which
threatened his life in hunting. This act of affection in Megabyzus
was looked upon with envy by the king. He was discarded and
afterwards reconciled to the monarch by means of his mother. He died
in the 76th year of his age, B.C. 447, greatly regretted. _Ctesias._

=Megăcles=, an Athenian archon, who involved the greatest part of the
Athenians in the sacrilege which was committed in the conspiracy of
Cylon. _Plutarch_, _Solon_.――――A brother of Dion, who assisted his
brother against Dionysius, &c.――――A son of Alcmæon, who revolted
with some Athenians after the departure of Solon from Athens. He was
ejected by Pisistratus.――――A man who exchanged dress with Pyrrhus,
when assisting the Tarentines in Italy. He was killed in that
disguise.――――A native of Messana in Sicily, famous for his inveterate
enmity to Agathocles tyrant of Syracuse.――――A man who destroyed the
leading men of Mitylene, because he had been punished.――――A man who
wrote an account of the lives of illustrious persons.――――The maternal
grandfather of Alcibiades.

=Megaclides=, a peripatetic philosopher in the age of Protagoras.

=Megæra=, one of the furies, daughter of Nox and Acheron. The word is
derived from μεγαιρειν, _invidere, odisse_, and she is represented
as employed by the gods, like her sisters, to punish the crimes of
mankind, by visiting them with diseases, with inward torments, and
with death. _Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 12, li. 846. _See:_ Eumenides.

=Megăle=, the Greek name of Cybele the mother of the gods, whose
festivals were called Megalesia.

=Megaleas=, a seditious person of Corinth. He was seized for his
treachery to king Philip of Macedonia, upon which he destroyed
himself to avoid punishment.

=Megalesia=, games in honour of Cybele, instituted by the Phrygians,
and introduced at Rome in the second Punic war, when the statue
of the goddess was brought from Pessinus. _Livy_, bk. 29, ch. 14.
――_Ovid_, _Fasti_, bk. 4, li. 337.

=Megalia=, a small island of Campania, near Neapolis. _Statius_, bk. 2,
_Sylvæ_, ♦poem 3, li. 80.

♦ omitted from text

=Megalŏpŏlis=, a town of Arcadia in Peloponnesus, built by Epaminondas.
It joined the Achæan league, B.C. 232, and was taken and ruined by
Cleomenes king of Sparta. The inhabitants were called _Megalopolitæ_,
or _Megalopolitani_. _Strabo_, bk. 8.――_Pausanias_, bk. 9, ch. 14.
――_Livy_, bk. 28, ch. 8.

=Megamēde=, the wife of Thestius, mother by him of 50 daughters.
_Apollodorus_, bk. 2.

=Meganīra=, the wife of Celeus king of Eleusis in Attica. She was
mother of Triptolemus, to whom Ceres, as she travelled over Attica,
taught agriculture. She received divine honours after death, and she
had an altar raised to her, near the fountain where Ceres had first
been seen when she arrived in Attica. _Pausanias_, bk. 1, ch. 39.
――――The wife of Arcas. _Apollodorus._

=Megapenthes=, an illegitimate son of Menelaus, who, after his father’s
return from the Trojan war, was married to a daughter of Alector, a
native of Sparta. His mother’s name was Teridae, a slave of Menelaus.
_Homer_, _Odyssey_, bk. 4.――_Apollodorus_, bk. 3.

=Megāra=, a daughter of Creon king of Thebes, given in marriage to
Hercules, because he had delivered the Thebans from the tyranny of
the Orchomenians. _See:_ Erginus. When Hercules went to hell by order
of Eurystheus, violence was offered to Megara by Lycus, a Theban
exile, and she would have yielded to her ravisher had not Hercules
returned that moment and punished him with death. This murder
displeased Juno, and she rendered Hercules so delirious, that he
killed Megara and the three children he had by her, in a fit of
madness, thinking them to be wild beasts. Some say that Megara did
not perish by the hand of her husband, but that he afterwards married
her to his friend Iolas. The names of Megara’s children by Hercules
were Creontiades, Therimachus, and Deicoon. _Hyginus_, fable 82.
――_Seneca_, _Hercules_.――_Apollodorus_, bk. 2, ch. 6.――_Diodorus_,
bk. 4.

=Megāra= (æ, and plural, orum), a city of Achaia, the capital of a
country called _Megaris_, founded about 1131 B.C. It is situate
nearly at an equal distance from Corinth and Athens, on the Sinus
Saronicus. It was built upon two rocks, and is still in being, and
preserves its ancient name. It was called after Megareus the son of
Neptune, who was buried there, or from Megareus, a son of Apollo. It
was originally governed by 12 kings, but became afterwards a republic,
and fell into the hands of the Athenians, from whom it was rescued
by the Heraclidæ. At the battle of Salamis the people of Megara
furnished 20 ships for the defence of Greece, and at Platæa they
had 300 men in the army of Pausanias. There was here a sect of
philosophers called the _Megaric_, who held the world to be eternal.
_Cicero_, _Academica_, bk. 4, ch. 42; _On Oratory_, bk. 3, ch. 17;
_Letters to Atticus_, bk. 1, ltr. 8.――_Pausanias_, bk. 1, ch. 39.
――_Strabo_, bk. 6.――_Mela_, bk. 2, ch. 3.――――A town of Sicily,
founded by a colony from Megara in Attica, about 728 years before the
christian era. It was destroyed by Gelon king of Syracuse; and before
the arrival of the Megarean colony it was called _Hybla_. _Strabo_,
♦bk. 6, &c.――_Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 3, li. 689.

♦ ‘26’ replaced with ‘6’

=Megareus=, the father of Hippomenes, was son of Onchestus. _Ovid_,
_Metamorphoses_, bk. 10, li. 605.――――A son of Apollo.

=Megāris=, a small country of Achaia, between Phocis on the west and
Attica on the east. Its capital city was called Megara. _See:_ Megara.
_Strabo_, bk. 8.――_Pliny_, bk. 3, ch. 8.――_Mela_, bk. 2, chs. 3 & 7.

=Megarsus=, a town of Sicily,――――of Cilicia.――――A river of India.

=Megasthĕnes=, a Greek historian in the age of Seleucus Nicanor, about
300 years before Christ. He wrote about the oriental nations, and
particularly the Indians. His history is often quoted by the ancients.
What now passes as his composition is spurious.

=Meges=, one of Helen’s suitors, governor of Dulichium and of the
Echinades. He went with 40 ships to the Trojan war. _Homer_, _Iliad_,
bk. 2.

=Megilla=, a native of Locris, remarkable for beauty, and mentioned by
Horace, bk. 1, ode 27, li. 11.

=Megista=, an island of Lycia, with a harbour of the same name. _Livy_,
bk. 37, ch. 22.

=Megistias=, a soothsayer, who told the Spartans that defended
Thermopylæ, that they all should perish, &c. _Herodotus_, bk. 7,
ch. 219, &c.――――A river. _See:_ Mella.

=Mela Pomponius=, a Spaniard, who flourished about the 45th year of the
christian era, and distinguished himself by his geography divided
into three books, and written with elegance, with great perspicuity
and brevity. The best editions of this book, called _De Situ Orbis_,
are those of Gronovius, 8vo, Leiden, 1722, and of Reinhold, 4to, Eton,
1761.

=Melænæ=, a village of Attica. _Statius_, _Thebiad_, bk. 12, li. 619.

=Melampus=, a celebrated soothsayer and physician of Argos, son of
Amythaon and Idomenea, or Dorippe. He lived at Pylos in Peloponnesus.
His servants once killed two large serpents, which had made their
nests at the bottom of a large oak, and Melampus paid so much regard
to these two reptiles, that he raised a burning pile and burned them
upon it. He also took particular care of their young ones, and fed
them with milk. Some time after this the young serpents crept to
Melampus as he slept on the grass near the oak, and, as if sensible
of the favours of their benefactor, they wantonly played around him,
and softly licked his ears. This awoke Melampus, who was astonished
at the sudden change which his senses had undergone. He found
himself acquainted with the chirping of the birds, and with all
their rude notes, as they flew around him. He took advantage of this
supernatural gift, and soon made himself perfect in the knowledge of
futurity, and Apollo also instructed him in the art of medicine. He
had soon after the happiness of curing the daughters of Prœtus, by
giving them hellebore, which from this circumstance has been called
_melampodium_, and as a reward for his trouble he married the eldest
of these princesses. _See:_ Prœtides. The tyranny of his uncle Neleus
king of Pylos obliged him to leave his native country, and Prœtus,
to show himself more sensible of his services, gave him part of
his kingdom, over which he established himself. About this time
the personal charms of Pero the daughter of Neleus had gained
many admirers, but the father promised his daughter only to him
who brought into his hands the oxen of Iphiclus. This condition
displeased many; but Bias, who was also one of her admirers, engaged
his brother Melampus to steal the oxen, and deliver them to him.
Melampus was caught in the attempt and imprisoned, and nothing but
his services as a soothsayer and physician to Iphiclus would have
saved him from death. All this pleaded in favour of Melampus, but
when he had taught the childless Iphiclus how to become a father, he
not only obtained his liberty, but also the oxen, and with them he
compelled Neleus to give Pero in marriage to Bias. A severe distemper,
which had rendered the women of Argos insane, was totally removed by
Melampus, and Anaxagoras, who then sat on the throne, rewarded his
merit by giving him part of his kingdom, where he established himself,
and where his posterity reigned during six successive generations.
He received divine honours after death, and temples were raised
to his memory. _Homer_, _Odyssey_, bk. 11, li. 287; bk. 15, li. 225.
――_Herodotus_, bks. 2 & 9.――_Apollodorus_, bk. 2, ch. 2.――_Pausanias_,
bk. 2, ch. 18; bk. 4, ch. 3.――_Virgil_, _Georgics_, bk. 3, li. 550.
――――The father of Cisseus and Gyas. _Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 10.――――A
son of Priam. _Apollodorus_, bk. 3.――――One of Actæon’s dogs. _Ovid_,
_Metamorphoses_, bk. 3.

=Melampyges=, a surname of Hercules, from the black and hairy appearance
of his back, &c.

=Melanchætes=, one of Actæon’s dogs, so called from his _black hair_.
_Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 3.

=Melanchlæni=, a people near the Cimmerian Bosphorus.

=Melanchrus=, a tyrant of Lesbos, who died about 612 B.C.

=Melane=, the same as Samothrace.

=Melaneus=, a son of Eurytus, from whom Eretria has been called
Melaneis.――――A centaur. _Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 12.――――One of
Actæon’s dogs. _Metamorphoses_, bk. 3.――――An Æthiopian, killed at the
nuptials of Perseus. _Metamorphoses_, bk. 5.

=Melanida=, a surname of Venus.

=Melanion=, the same as Hippomenes, who married Atalanta, according to
some mythologists. _Apollodorus_, bk. 3.

=Melanippe=, a daughter of Æolus, who had two children by Neptune,
for which her father put out both her eyes, and confined her in a
prison. Her children, who had been exposed and preserved, delivered
her from confinement, and Neptune restored to her her eye-sight. She
afterwards married Metapontus. _Hyginus_, fable 186.――――A nymph who
married Itonus son of Amphictyon, by whom she had Bœotus, who gave
his name to Bœotia. _Pausanias_, bk. 9, ch. 1.

=Melanippĭdes=, a Greek poet about 520 years before Christ. His
grandson, of the same name, flourished about 60 years after at the
court of Perdiccas II. of Macedonia. Some fragments of their poetry
are extant.

=Melanippus=, a priest of Apollo at Cyrene, killed by the tyrant
Nicocrates. _Polyænus_, bk. 8.――――A son of Astacus, one of the Theban
chiefs who defended the gates of Thebes against the army of Adrastus
king of Argos. He was opposed by Tydeus, whom he slightly wounded,
and at last was killed by Amphiaraus, who carried his head to Tydeus.
Tydeus, to take revenge of the wound he had received, bit the head
with such barbarity, that he swallowed the brains, and Minerva,
offended with his conduct, took away the herb which she had given
him to cure his wound, and he died. _Apollodorus_, bk. 1, ch. 8.
――_Aeschylus_, _Seven Against Thebes_.――_Pausanias_, bk. 9, ch. 18.
――――A son of Mars, who became enamoured of Cometho, a priestess of
Diana Triclaria. He concealed himself in the temple, and ravished his
mistress, for which violation of the sanctity of the place the two
lovers soon after perished by a sudden death, and the country was
visited by a pestilence, which was stopped only after the offering of
a human sacrifice by the direction of the oracle. _Pausanias_, bk. 7,
ch. 19.――――A Trojan, killed by Antilochus in the Trojan war. _Homer_,
_Iliad_, bk. 15.――――Another, killed by Patroclus.――――Another, killed
by Teucer.――――A son of Agrius.――――Another, son of Priam.――――A son of
Theseus.

=Melanosyri=, a people of Syria.

=Melanthii=, rocks near the island of Samos.

=Melanthius=, a man who wrote a history of Attica.――――A famous painter
of Sicyon. _Pliny_, bk. 35.――――A tragic poet of a very malevolent
disposition in the age of Phocion. _Plutarch._――――A Trojan, killed
by Eurypylus in the Trojan war. _Homer_, _Odyssey_.――――A shepherd in
_Theocritus_, _Idylls_.――――A goat-herd, killed by Telemachus after
the return of Ulysses. _Ovid_, ltr. 1, _Heroides_.――――An elegiac poet.

=Melantho=, a daughter of Proteus, ravished by Neptune under the form
of a dolphin. _Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 6, li. 12.――――One of
Penelope’s women, sister to Melanthius. _Homer_, _Iliad_, bk. 18,
&c.; _Odyssey_, bk. 18.

=Melanthus=, =Melanthes=, or =Melanthius=, a son of Andropompus,
whose ancestors were kings of Pylos. He was driven from his paternal
kingdom by the Heraclidæ, and came to Athens, where king Thymœtes
resigned the crown to him, provided he fought a battle against
Xanthus, a general of the Bœotians, who made war against him. He
fought and conquered [_See:_ Apaturia], and his family, surnamed
the _Neliadæ_, sat on the throne of Athens, till the age of Codrus.
He succeeded to the crown 1128 years B.C., and reigned 37 years.
_Pausanias_, bk. 2, ch. 18.――――A man of Cyzicus. _Flaccus._――――A
river of European Sarmatia, falling into the Borysthenes. _Ovid_,
_ex Ponto_, bk. 4, ltr. 10, li. 55.

=Melas= (æ), a river of Peloponnesus.――――Of Thrace, at the west of the
Thracian Chersonesus.――――Another in Thessaly,――――in Achaia,――――in
Bœotia,――――in Sicily,――――in Ionia,――――in Cappadocia.――――A son of
Neptune.――――Another, son of Proteus.――――A son of Phryxus, who was
among the Argonauts, and was drowned in that part of the sea which
bore his name. _Apollodorus_, bk. 1.

=Meldæ=, or =Meldorum urbs=, a city of Gaul, now _Meaux_, in Champagne.

=Mĕleāger=, a celebrated hero of antiquity, son of Œneus king of Ætolia,
by Althæa daughter of Thestius. The Parcæ were present at the moment
of his birth, and predicted his future greatness. Clotho said that
he would be brave and courageous, Lachesis foretold his uncommon
strength, and Atropos declared that he should live as long as that
fire-brand, which was on the fire, remained entire and unconsumed.
Althæa no sooner heard this, than she snatched the stick from the
fire, and kept it with the most jealous care, as the life of her
son was destined to depend upon its preservation. The fame of
Meleager increased with his years; he signalized himself in the
Argonautic expedition, and afterwards delivered his country from the
neighbouring inhabitants, who made war against his father, at the
instigation of Diana, whose altars Œneus had neglected. _See:_ Œneus.
No sooner were they destroyed than Diana punished the negligence
of Œneus by a greater calamity. She sent a huge wild boar, which
laid waste all the country, and seemed invincible on account of its
immense size. It became soon a public concern; all the neighbouring
princes assembled to destroy this terrible animal, and nothing
became more famous in mythological history than the hunting of
the Calydonian boar. The princes and chiefs who assembled, and who
are mentioned by mythologists, are Meleager son of Œneus, Idas and
Lynceus sons of Aphareus, Dryas son of Mars, Castor and Pollux sons
of Jupiter and Leda, Pirithous son of Ixion, Theseus son of Ægeus,
Anceus and Cepheus sons of Lycurgus, Admetes son of Pheres, Jason son
of Æson, Peleus and Telamon sons of Æacus, Iphicles son of Amphitryon,
Eurytryon son of Actor, Atalanta daughter of Schœneus, Iolas the
friend of Hercules, the sons of Thestius, Amphiaraus son of Oileus,
Protheus, Cometes, the brothers of Althæa, Hippothous son of Cercyon,
Leucippus, Adrastus, Ceneus, Phileus, Echeon, Lelex, Phœnix son of
Amyntor, Panopeus, Hyleus, Hippasus, Nestor, Menœtius the father of
Patroclus, Amphicides, Laertes the father of Ulysses, and the four
sons of Hippocoon. This troop of armed men attacked the boar with
unusual fury, and it was at last killed by Meleager. The conqueror
gave the skin and the head to Atalanta, who had first wounded
the animal. This partiality to a woman irritated the others, and
particularly Toxeus and Plexippus the brothers of Althæa, and they
endeavoured to rob Atalanta of the honourable present. Meleager
defended a woman, of whom he was enamoured, and killed his uncles
in the attempt. Meantime the news of this celebrated conquest had
already reached Calydon, and Althæa went to the temple of the gods to
return thanks for the victory which her son had gained. As she went
she met the corpses of her brothers that were brought from the chase,
and at this mournful spectacle she filled the whole city with her
lamentations. She was upon this informed that they had been killed
by Meleager, and in the moment of resentment, to revenge the death of
her brothers, she threw into the fire the fatal stick on which her
son’s life depended, and Meleager died as soon as it was consumed.
Homer does not mention the fire-brand, whence some have imagined
that this fable is posterior to that poet’s age. But he says that the
death of Toxeus and Plexippus so irritated Althæa, that she uttered
the most horrible curses and imprecations upon the head of her son.
Meleager married Cleopatra the daughter of Idas and Marpessa, as also
Atalanta, according to some accounts. _Apollodorus_, bk. 1, ch. 8.
――_Apollonius_, _Argonautica_, bk. 1, li. 997; bk. 3, li. 518.
――_Flaccus_, bks. 1 & 6.――_Pausanias_, bk. 10, ch. 31.――_Hyginus_,
fable 14.――_Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 8.――_Homer_, _Iliad_, bk. 9.
――――A general who supported Aridæus when he had been made king, after
the death of his brother Alexander the Great.――――A brother of Ptolemy,
made king of Macedonia B.C. 280 years. He was but two months invested
with the regal authority.――――A Greek poet in the reign of Seleucus,
the last of the Seleucidæ. He was born at Tyre, and died at Cos.
It is to his well-directed labours that we are indebted for the
_Anthologia_, or collection of Greek epigrams, which he selected from
46 of the best and most esteemed poets. The original collection of
Meleager has been greatly altered by succeeding editors. The best
edition of the _Anthologia_ is that of Brunck, in three vols., 4to
and 8vo, Strasbourg, 1772.

=Mĕleāgrĭdes=, the sisters of Meleager, daughters of Œneus and Althæa.
They were so disconsolate at the death of their brother Meleager,
that they refused all aliments, and were, at the point of death,
changed into birds called Meleagrides, whose feathers and eggs, as it
is supposed, are of a different colour. The youngest of the sisters,
Gorge and Dejanira, who had been married, escaped this metamorphosis.
_Apollodorus_, bk. 1, ch. 8.――_Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 8, li. 540.
――_Pliny_, bk. 10, ch. 26.

=Melesander=, an Athenian general, who died B.C. 414.

=Meles= (ētis), a river of Asia Minor, in Ionia, near Smyrna. Some
of the ancients supposed that Homer was born on the banks of that
river, from which circumstance they call him _Melisigènes_, and his
compositions _Meletææ chartæ_. It is even supported that he composed
his poems in a cave near the source of that river. _Strabo_, bk. 12.
――_Statius_, bk. 2, _Sylvæ_, poem 7, li. 34.――_Tibullus_, bk. 4,
poem 1, li. 201.――_Pausanias_, bk. 7, ch. 5.――――A beautiful Athenian
youth, greatly beloved by Timagoras, whose affections he repaid with
the greatest coldness and indifference. He even ordered Timagoras
to leap down a precipice, from the top of the citadel of Athens,
and Timagoras, not to disoblige him, obeyed, and was killed in the
fall. This token of true friendship and affection had such an effect
upon Meles, that he threw himself down from the place, to atone
by his death for the ingratitude which he had shown to Timagoras.
_Pausanias_, bk. 1, ch. 30.――――A king of Lydia, who succeeded his
father Alyattes, about 747 years before Christ. He was father to
Candaules.

=Melesigĕnes=, or =Melesigĕna=, a name given to Homer. _See:_ Meles.

=Melia=, a daughter of Oceanus, who married Inachus.――――A nymph, &c.
_Apollodorus._――――A daughter of Oceanus, sister to Caanthus. She
became mother of Ismarus and Tenerus by Apollo. Tenerus was endowed
with the gift of prophecy, and the river Ladon in Bœtia assumed the
name of Ismarus. _Pausanias_, bk. 9, ch. 10.――――One of the Nereides.
――――A daughter of Agenor.

=Mĕlĭbœa=, a daughter of Oceanus, who married Pelasgus.――――A daughter
of Amphion and Niobe. _Apollodorus._――――A maritime town of Magnesia
in Thessaly, at the foot of mount Ossa, famous for dyeing wool.
The epithet of _Melibœus_ is applied to Philoctetes, because he
reigned there. _Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 3, li. 401; bk. 5, li. 251.
――_Herodotus_, bk. 7, ch. 188.――――Also an island at the mouth of the
Orontes in Syria, whence _Melibœa purpura_. _Mela_, bk. 2, ch. 3.

=Melibœus=, a shepherd introduced in Virgil’s eclogues.

=Mĕlĭcerta=, =Melicertes=, or =Melicertus=, a son of Athamas and Ino.
He was saved by his mother from the fury of his father, who prepared
to dash him against the wall as he had done his brother Learchus.
The mother was so terrified that she threw herself into the sea,
with Melicerta in her arms. Neptune had compassion on the misfortunes
of Ino and her son, and changed them both into sea deities. Ino
was called Leucothoe or Matuta, and Melicerta was known among the
Greeks by the name of Palæmon, and among the Latins by that of
Portumnus. Some suppose that the Isthmian games were in honour of
Melicerta. _See:_ Isthmia. _Apollodorus_, bk. 1, ch. 9; bk. 3, ch. 4.
――_Pausanias_, bk. 1, ch. 44.――_Hyginus_, fables 1 & 2.――_Ovid_,
_Metamorphoses_, bk. 4, li. 529, &c.――_Plutarch_ _de Convivium Septem
Sapientium_.

=Meligūnis=, one of the Æolian islands near Sicily.