Chapter M (4)

=Melīna=, a daughter of Thespius, mother of Laomedon by Hercules.

=Melīsa=, a town of Magna Græcia.

=Melissa=, a daughter of Melissus king of Crete, who, with her sister
Amalthæa, fed Jupiter with the milk of goats. She first found out
the means of collecting honey; whence some have imagined that she was
changed into a bee, as her name is the Greek word for that insect.
_Columella._――――One of the Oceanides, who married Inachus, by whom
she had Phoroneus and Ægialus.――――A daughter of Procles, who married
Periander the son of Cypselus, by whom, in her pregnancy, she was
killed with a blow of his foot, by the false accusation of his
concubines. _Diogenes Laërtius._――_Pausanias_, bk. 1, ch. 28.――――A
woman of Corinth, who refused to initiate others in the festivals of
Ceres, after she had received admission. She was torn to pieces upon
this disobedience, and the goddess made a swarm of bees rise from her
body.

=Melissus=, a king of Crete, father to Melissa and Amalthæa. _Hyginus_,
_Poetica Astronomica_, bk. 2, ch. 13.――_Lactantius [Placidus]_, bk. 1,
ch. 22.――――An admiral of the Samian fleet, B.C. 441. He was defeated
by Pericles, &c. _Plutarch_, _Pericles_.――――A philosopher of Samos,
who maintained that the world was infinite, immovable, and without
a vacuum. According to his doctrines, no one could advance any
argument upon the power or attributes of Providence, as all human
knowledge was weak and imperfect. Themistocles was among his pupils.
He flourished about 440 years before the christian era. _Diogenes
Laërtius._――――A freedman of Mecænas, appointed librarian to Augustus.
He wrote some comedies. _Ovid_, _ex Ponto_, bk. 4, ltr. 16, li. 30.
――_Suetonius_, _Lives of the Grammarians_.

=Melĭta=, an island in the Libyan sea, between Sicily and Africa, now
called _Malta_. The soil was fertile, and the country famous for its
wool. It was first peopled by the Phœnicians. St. Paul was shipwrecked
there, and cursed all venomous creatures, which now are not to be
found in the whole island. Some, however, suppose that the island
on which the Apostle was shipwrecked, was another island of the same
name in the Adriatic on the coast of Illyricum, now called _Melede_.
Malta is now remarkable as being the residence of the knights of
Malta, formerly of St. John of Jerusalem, settled there A. D. 1530,
by the concession of Charles V., after their expulsion from Rhodes
by the Turks. _Strabo_, bk. 6.――_Mela_, bk. 2, ch. 7.――_Cicero_,
_Against Verres_, bk. 4, ch. 46.――――Another on the coast of Illyricum,
in the Adriatic, now _Melede_. _Pliny_, bk. 3, ch. 26.――――An ancient
name of Samothrace. _Strabo_, bk. 10.――――One of the Nereides.
_Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 5, li. 825.

=Melitene=, a province of Armenia.

=Melĭtus=, a poet and orator of Athens, who became one of the principal
accusers of Socrates. After his eloquence had prevailed, and Socrates
had been put ignominiously to death, the Athenians repented of their
severity to the philosopher, and condemned his accusers. Melitus
perished among them. His character was mean and insidious, and his
poems had nothing great or sublime. _Diogenes Laërtius._

=Spurius Melius=, a Roman knight accused of aspiring to tyranny, on
account of his uncommon liberality to the populace. He was summoned
to appear by the dictator Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus, and when he
refused to obey, he was put to death by Ahala the master of horse,
A.U.C. 314.――_Varro_, _de Lingua Latina_, bk. 4.――_Valerius Maximus_,
bk. 6, ch. 3.

=Melixandrus=, a Milesian, who wrote an account of the wars of the
Lapithæ and Centaurs. _Ælian_, _Varia Historia_, bk. 11, ch. 2.

=Mella=, or =Mela=, a small river of Cisalpine Gaul, falling into
the Ollius, and with it into the Po. _Catullus_, poem 68, li. 33.
――_Virgil_, _Georgics_, bk. 4, li. 278.

=Mella Annæus=, the father of Lucan. He was accused of being privy
to Piso’s conspiracy against Nero, upon which he opened his veins.
_Tacitus_, _Annals_, bk. 16, ch. 17.

=Melobōsis=, one of the Oceanides.

=Melon=, an astrologer, who feigned madness and burnt his house that he
might not go to an expedition, which he knew would be attended with
great calamities.――――An interpreter of king Darius. _Curtius_, bk. 5,
ch. 13.

=Melos=, now _Milo_, an island between Crete and Peloponnesus, about
24 miles from Scyllæum, about 60 miles in circumference, and of an
oblong figure. It enjoyed its independence for above 700 years before
the time of the Peloponnesian war. This island was originally peopled
by a Lacedæmonian colony, 1116 years before the christian era. From
this reason the inhabitants refused to join the rest of the islands
and the Athenians against the Peloponnesians. This refusal was
severely punished. The Athenians took Melos, and put to the sword
all such as were able to bear arms. The women and children were made
slaves, and the island left desolate. An Athenian colony repeopled
it, till Lysander reconquered it and re-established the original
inhabitants in their possessions. The island produced a kind of earth
successfully employed in painting and medicine. _Strabo_, bk. 7.
――_Mela_, bk. 2, ch. 7.――_Pliny_, bk. 4, ch. 12; bk. 35, ch. 9.
――_Thucydides_, bk. 2, &c.

=Melpes=, now _Melpa_, a river of Lucania, falling into the Tyrrhene
sea. _Pliny_, bk. 3, ch. 5.

=Melpia=, a village of Arcadia. _Pausanias_, bk. 8, ch. 38.

=Melpŏmĕne=, one of the Muses, daughter of Jupiter and Mnemosyne.
She presided over tragedy. Horace has addressed the finest of his
odes to her, as to the patroness of lyric poetry. She was generally
represented as a young woman with a serious countenance. Her garments
were splendid; she wore a buskin, and held a dagger in one hand, and
in the other a sceptre and crowns. _Horace_, bk. 3, ode 4.――_Hesiod_,
_Theogony_.

=Memaceni=, a powerful nation of Asia, &c. _Curtius._

=Memmia Sulpitia=, a woman who married the emperor Alexander Severus.
She died when young.

=Memmia lex=, ordained that no one should be entered on the calendar of
criminals who was absent on the public account.

=Memmius=, a Roman citizen, accused of _ambitus_. _Cicero_, _Letters to
his brother Quintus_, bk. 3.――――A Roman knight, who rendered himself
illustrious for his eloquence and poetical talents. He was made
tribune, pretor, and afterwards governor of Bithynia. He was accused
of extortion in his province, and banished by Julius Cæsar, though
Cicero undertook his defence. Lucretius dedicated his poem to him.
_Cicero_, _Brutus_.――――Regulus, a Roman of whom Nero observed, that
he deserved to be invested with the imperial purple. _Tacitus_,
_Annals_, bk. 14, ch. 47.――――A Roman who accused Jugurtha before
the Roman people.――――A lieutenant of Pompey, &c.――――The family of
the Memmii were plebeians. They were descended, according to some
accounts, from Mnestheus the friend of Æneas. _Virgil_, _Æneid_,
bk. 5, li. 117.

=Memnon=, a king of Æthiopia, son of Tithonus and Aurora. He came with
a body of 10,000 men to assist his uncle Priam, during the Trojan war,
where he behaved with great courage, and killed Antilochus, Nestor’s
son. The aged father challenged the Æthiopian monarch, but Memnon
refused it on account of the venerable age of Nestor, and accepted
that of Achilles. He was killed in the combat, in the sight of the
Grecian and Trojan armies. Aurora was so disconsolate at the death
of her son, that she flew to Jupiter all bathed in tears, and begged
the god to grant her son such honours as might distinguish him from
other mortals. Jupiter consented, and immediately a numerous flight
of birds issued from the burning pile on which the body was laid,
and after they had flown three times round the flames, they divided
themselves into two separate bodies, and fought with such acrimony,
that above half of them fell down into the fire, as victims to
appease the manes of Memnon. These birds were called _Memnonides_;
and it has been observed by some of the ancients, that they never
failed to return yearly to the tomb of Memnon in Troas, and repeat
the same bloody engagement, in honour of the hero, from whom they
received their name. The Æthiopians or Egyptians, over whom Memnon
reigned, erected a celebrated statue to the honour of their monarch.
This statue had the wonderful property of uttering a melodious sound
every day, at sun-rising, like that which is heard at the breaking
of the string of a harp when it is wound up. This was effected by the
rays of the sun when they fell upon it. At the setting of the sun,
and in the night the sound was lugubrious. This is supported by the
testimony of the geographer Strabo, who confesses himself ignorant
whether it proceeded from the basis of the statue, or the people that
were then round it. This celebrated statue was dismantled by order
of Cambyses, when he conquered Egypt, and its ruins still astonish
modern travellers by their grandeur and beauty. Memnon was the
inventor of the alphabet, according to Anticlides, a writer mentioned
by Pliny, bk. 7, ch. 56. _Moschus_, _Epitaphios Bionis_.――_Ovid_,
_Metamorphoses_, bk. 13, li. 578, &c.――_Ælian_, bk. 5, ch. 1.
――_Pausanias_, bk. 1, ch. 42; bk. 10, ch. 31.――_Strabo_, bks. 13
& 17.――_Juvenal_, satire 15, li. 5.――_Philostratus_, on _Apollodorus_.
――_Pliny_, bk. 36, ch. 7.――_Homer_, _Odyssey_, bk. 9.――_Quintus
Calaber [Smyrnæus]._――――A general of the Persian forces, when
Alexander invaded Asia. He distinguished himself for his attachment
to the interest of Darius, his valour in the field, the soundness of
his counsels, and his great sagacity. He defended Milotus against
Alexander, and died in the midst of his successful enterprises, B.C.
333. His wife Barsine was taken prisoner with the wife of Darius.
_Diodorus_, bk. 16.――――A governor of Cœlosyria.――――A man appointed
governor of Thrace by Alexander.――――A man who wrote a history of
Heraclea in Pontus, in the age of Augustus.

=Memphis=, a celebrated town of Egypt, on the western banks of the
Nile, above the Delta. It once contained many beautiful temples,
particularly those of the god Apis (_bos Memphites_), whose worship
was observed with the greatest ceremonies. _See:_ Apis. It was in the
neighbourhood of Memphis that those famous pyramids were built, whose
grandeur and beauty still astonish the modern traveller. These noble
monuments of Egyptian vanity, which pass for one of the wonders of
the world, are about 20 in number, three of which, by their superior
size, particularly claim attention. The largest of these is 481 feet
in height measured perpendicularly, and the area of its basis is
on 480,249 square feet, or something more than 11 English acres of
ground. It has steps all round with massy and polished stones, so
large that the breadth and depth of every step is one single stone.
The smallest stone, according to an ancient historian, is not less
than 30 feet. The number of steps, according to modern observation,
amounts to 208, a number which is not always adhered to by travellers.
The place where Memphis formerly stood is not now known; the ruins
of its fallen grandeur were conveyed to Alexandria to beautify its
palaces, or to adorn the neighbouring cities. _Tibullus_, bk. 1, poem
7, li. 28.――_Silius Italicus_, bk. 14, li. 660.――_Strabo_, bk. 17.
――_Mela_, bk. 1, ch. 9.――_Diodorus_, bk. 1.――_Plutarch_, _De Iside
et Osiride_.――_Herodotus_, bk. 2, ch. 10, &c.――_Josephus_, _Jewish
Antiquities_, bk. 8.――――A nymph, daughter of the Nile, who married
Ephesus, by whom she had Libya. She gave her name to the celebrated
city of Memphis. _Apollodorus_, bk. 2, ch. 1.――――The wife of Danaus.
_Apollodorus_, bk. 2, ch. 1.

=Memphītis=, a son of Ptolemy Physcon king of Egypt. He was put to
death by his father.

=Mena=, a goddess worshipped at Rome, and supposed to preside over the
monthly infirmities of women. She was the same as Juno. According
to some, the sacrifices offered to her were young puppies that
still sucked their mother. _Augustine_, _City of God_, bk. 4, ch. 2.
――_Pliny_, bk. 29, ch. 4.

=Mena=, or =Menes=, the first king of Egypt, according to some accounts.

=Menalcas=, a shepherd in Virgil’s eclogues.

=Menalcĭdas=, an intriguing Lacedæmonian in the time of the famous
Achæan league. He was accused before the Romans, and he killed
himself.

=Menalippe=, a sister of Antiope queen of the Amazons, taken by
Hercules when that hero made war against this celebrated nation. She
was ransomed, and Hercules received in exchange the arms and belt of
the queen. _Juvenal_, satire 8, li. 229.――――A daughter of the centaur
Chiron, beloved and ravished by Æolus son of Hellen. She retired into
the woods to hide her disgrace from the eyes of her father, and when
she had brought forth she entreated the gods to remove her totally
from the pursuits of Chiron. She was changed into a mare, and called
Ocyroe. Some suppose that she assumed the name of Menalippe, and lost
that of Ocyroe. She became a constellation after death, called the
horse. Some authors call her Hippe, or Evippe. _Hyginus_, _Poetica
Astronomica_, bk. 2, ch. 18.――_Pollux_, bk. 4.――――Menalippe is a name
common to other persons, but it is generally spelt _Melanippe_ by the
best authors. _See:_ Melanippe.

=Menalippus.= _See:_ Melanippus.

=Menander=, a celebrated comic poet of Athens, educated under
Theophrastus. He was universally esteemed by the Greeks, and received
the appellation of Prince of the New Comedy. He did not disgrace his
compositions, like Aristophanes, by mean and indecent reflections
and illiberal satire, but his writings were replete with elegance,
refined wit, and judicious observations. Of 108 comedies which he
wrote, nothing remains but a few fragments. It is said that Terence
translated all these, and indeed we may have cause to lament the
loss of such valuable writings, when we are told by the ancients
that the elegant Terence, so much admired, was in the opinion of his
countrymen reckoned inferior to Menander. It is said that Menander
drowned himself in the 52nd year of his age, B.C. 293, because
the compositions of his rival Philemon obtained more applause than
his own. Only eight of his numerous comedies were rewarded with
a poetical prize. The name of his father was Diopythus, and that
of his mother Hegistrata. His fragments, with those of Philemon,
were published by Clericus, 8vo, 1709. _Quintilian_, bk. 10, ch. 1.
――_Paterculus_, bk. 1, ch. 16.――――A man who wrote an account of
embassies, &c.――――A king of Bactria, whose ashes were divided among
his subjects, &c.――――An historian of Ephesus.――――Another of Pergamus.
――――An Athenian general defeated at Ægospotamos by Lysander.――――An
Athenian sent to Sicily with Nicias.――――A man put to death by
Alexander for deserting a fortress of which he had the command.――――An
officer under Mithridates, sent against Lucullus.

=Menapii=, a people of Belgic Gaul, near the Mosa. _Cæsar_, _Gallic War_.

=Menapis=, a Persian exile, made satrap of Hyrcania by Alexander.
_Curtius_, bk. 6, ch. 4.

=Menas=, a freedman of Pompey the Great, who distinguished himself by
the active and perfidious part which he took in the civil wars which
were kindled between the younger Pompey and Augustus. When Pompey
invited Augustus to his galley, Menas advised his master to seize
the person of his enemy, and at the same time the Roman empire, by
cutting the cables of his ship. “No,” replied Pompey, “I would have
approved of the measure if you had done it without consulting me; but
I scorn to break my word.” _Suetonius_, _Octavius Augustus_. Horace,
epode 4, has ridiculed the pride of Menas, and recalled to his mind
his former meanness and obscurity.

=Menchēres=, the twelfth king of Memphis.

=Mendes=, a city of Egypt, near Lycopolis, on one of the mouths of
the Nile, called the Mendesian mouth. Pan, under the form of a goat,
was worshipped there with the greatest solemnity. It was unlawful to
kill one of these animals, with which the Egyptians were not ashamed
to have public commerce, to the disgrace of human nature, from
the superstitious notion that such embraces had given birth to the
greatest heroes of antiquity, as Alexander, Scipio, &c. _Herodotus_,
bk. 2, chs. 42 & 46.――_Strabo_, bk. 17.――_Diodorus_, bk. 1.

=Menĕcles=, an orator of Alabanda in Caria, who settled at Rhodes.
_Cicero_, _On Oratory_, bk. 2, ch. 53.――_Strabo_, bk. 14.

=Meneclides=, a detractor of the character of Epaminondas. _Cornelius
Nepos_, _Epaminondas_.

=Menecrătes=, a physician of Syracuse, famous for his vanity and
arrogance. He was generally accompanied by some of his patients,
whose disorders he had cured. He disguised one in the habit of Apollo,
and the other in that of Æsculapius, while he reserved for himself
the title and name of Jupiter, whose power was extended over those
inferior deities. He crowned himself like the master of the gods;
and in a letter which he wrote to Philip king of Macedon, he styled
himself in these words, _Menecrates Jupiter to king Philip, greeting_.
The Macedonian monarch answered, _Philip to Menecrates, greeting, and
better sense_. Philip also invited him to one of his feasts, but when
the meats were served up, a table was put separate for the physician,
on which he was served only with perfumes and frankincense, like
the father of the gods. This entertainment displeased Menecrates; he
remembered that he was a mortal, and hurried away from the company.
He lived about 360 years before the christian era. The book which he
wrote on cures is lost. _Ælian_, _Varia Historia_, bk. 10, ch. 51.
――_Athenæus_, bk. 7, ch. 13.――――One of the generals of Seleucus.――――A
physician under Tiberius.――――A Greek historian of Nysa, disciple to
Aristarchus, B.C. 119. _Strabo_, bk. 16.――――An Ephesian architect
who wrote on agriculture. _Varro_, _de Re Rustica_.――――An historian.
――――A man appointed to settle the disputes of the Athenians and
Lacedæmonians in the eighth year of the Peloponnesian war. His
father’s name was Amphidorus.――――An officer in the fleet of Pompey
the son of Pompey the Great.

=Menedēmus=, an officer of Alexander, killed by the ♦Dahæ. _Curtius_,
bk. 7, ch. 6.――――A Socratic philosopher of Eretria, who was
originally a tent-maker, an employment which he left for the
profession of arms. The persuasive eloquence and philosophical
lectures of Plato had such an influence over him, that he gave up
his offices in the state to cultivate literature. It is said that he
died through melancholy when Antigonus, one of Alexander’s generals,
had made himself master of his country, B.C. 301, in the 74th year of
his age. Some attribute his death to a different cause, and say that
he was falsely accused of treason, for which he became so desperate
that he died, after he had passed seven days without taking any
aliments. He was called the _Eretrian Bull_, on account of his gravity.
_Strabo_, bk. 9.――_Diogenes Laërtius._――――A cynic philosopher of
Lampsacus, who said that he was come from hell to observe the sins
and wickedness of mankind. His habit was that of the furies, and his
behaviour was a proof of his insanity. He was the disciple of Colotes
of Lampsacus. _Diogenes Laërtius._――――An officer of Lucullus.――――A
philosopher of Athens. _Cicero_, _On Oratory_, bk. 1, ch. 19.

♦ ‘Danæ’ replaced with ‘Dahæ’

=Menegetas=, a boxer or wrestler in Philip of Macedon’s army, &c.
_Polyænus._

=Menĕlāi portus=, a harbour on the coast of Africa, between Cyrene
and Egypt. _Cornelius Nepos_, _Agesilaus_, ch. 8.――_Strabo_,
bk. 1.――――Mons, a hill near Sparta, with a fortification, called
_Menelaium_. _Livy_, bk. 34, ch. 28.

=Mĕnĕlāia=, a festival celebrated at Therapnæ in Laconia, in honour
of Menelaus. He had there a temple, where he was worshipped with his
wife Helen, as one of the supreme gods.

=Mĕnĕlāus=, a king of Sparta, brother to Agamemnon. His father’s name
was Atreus, according to Homer, or, according to the more probable
opinion of Hesiod, Apollodorus, &c., he was the son of Plisthenes and
Ærope. _See:_ Plisthenes. He was educated with his brother Agamemnon
in the house of Atreus, but soon after the death of this monarch,
Thyestes his brother usurped the kingdom, and banished the two
children of Plisthenes. Menelaus and Agamemnon came to the court
of Œneus king of Calydonia, who treated them with tenderness and
paternal care. From Calydonia they went to Sparta, where, like the
rest of the Grecian princes, they solicited the marriage of Helen
the daughter of king Tyndarus. By the artifice and advice of Ulysses,
Helen was permitted to choose a husband, and she fixed her eyes upon
Menelaus, and married him, after her numerous suitors had solemnly
bound themselves by an oath to defend her, and protect her person
against the violence or assault of every intruder. _See:_ Helena. As
soon as the nuptials were celebrated, ♦Tyndarus resigned the crown to
his son-in-law, and their happiness was complete. This was, however,
of short duration; Helen was the fairest woman of the age, and Venus
had promised Paris the son of Priam to reward him with such a beauty.
_See:_ Paris. The arrival of Paris in Sparta was the cause of great
revolutions. The absence of Menelaus in Crete gave opportunities to
the Trojan prince to corrupt the fidelity of Helen, and to carry away
home what the goddess of beauty had promised to him as his due. This
action was highly resented by Menelaus; he reminded the Greek princes
of their oath and solemn engagements when they courted the daughter
of Tyndarus, and immediately all Greece took up arms to defend his
cause. The combined forces assembled at Aulis in Bœotia, where they
chose Agamemnon for their general, and Calchas for their high priest;
and after their applications to the court of Priam for the recovery
of Helen had proved fruitless, they marched to meet their enemies in
the field. During the Trojan war Menelaus behaved with great spirit
and courage, and Paris must have fallen by his hand, had not Venus
interposed and redeemed him from certain death. He also expressed his
wish to engage Hector, but Agamemnon hindered him from fighting so
powerful an adversary. In the tenth year of the Trojan war, Helen,
as it is reported, obtained the forgiveness and the good graces of
Menelaus by introducing him with Ulysses, the night that Troy was
reduced to ashes, into the chamber of Deiphobus, whom she had married
after the death of Paris. This perfidious conduct totally reconciled
her to her first husband; and she returned with him to Sparta, during
a voyage of eight years. He died some time after his return. He had
a daughter called Hermione, and Nicostratus, according to some, by
Helen, and a son called Megapenthes by a concubine. Some say that
Menelaus went to Egypt on his return from the Trojan war to obtain
Helen, who had been detained there by the king of the country. _See:_
Helena. The palace which Menelaus once inhabited was still entire in
the days of Pausanias, as well as the temple which had been raised to
his memory by the people of Sparta. _Homer_, _Odyssey_, bk. 4, &c.;
_Iliad_, bk. 1, &c.――_Apollodorus_, bk. 3, ch. 10.――_Pausanias_, bk.
3, chs. 14 & 19.――_Dictys Cretensis_, bk. 2, &c.――_Virgil_, _Æneid_,
bk. 2, &c.――_Quintus Smyrnæus_ bk. 14.――_Ovid_, _Heroides_, poems 5
& 13.――_Hyginus_ fable 79.――_Euripides_, _Iphigeneia_.――_Propertius_,
bk. 2.――_Sophocles._――――A lieutenant of Ptolemy, set over Salamis.
_Polyænus._――_Pausanias._――――A city of Egypt. _Strabo_, bk. 14.――――A
mathematician in the age of the emperor Trajan.

♦ ‘Tyndaros’ replaced with ‘Tyndarus’

=Menēnius Agrippa=, a celebrated Roman who appeased the Roman populace
in the infancy of the consular government by repeating the well-known
fable of the belly and limbs. He flourished 495 B.C. _Livy_, bk. 2,
chs. 16, 32, 33.――――A Roman consul.――――An insane person in the age of
Horace.

=Menĕphron=, a man who attempted to offer violence to his own mother.
He was changed into a wild beast. _Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 7,
li. 387.

=Mēnes=, the first king of Egypt. He built the town of Memphis, as is
generally supposed, and deserved, by his abilities and popularity,
to be called a god after death. _Herodotus_, bk. 2, chs. 1 & 90.
――_Diodorus_, bk. 1.

=Menesthēi portus=, a town of Hispania ♦Bætica.

♦ ‘Bœtica’ replaced with ‘Bætica’

=Menesteus=, =Menestheus=, or =Mnestheus=, a son of Pereus, who so
insinuated himself into the favour of the people of Athens, that,
during the long absence of Theseus, he was elected king. The lawful
monarch at his return home was expelled, and Mnestheus established
his usurpation by his popularity and great moderation. As he had
been one of Helen’s suitors, he went to the Trojan war at the head of
the people of Athens, and died in his return in the island of Melos.
He reigned 23 years B.C. 1205, and was succeeded by Demophoon the
son of Theseus. _Plutarch_, _Theseus_.――――A son of Iphicrates, who
distinguished himself in the Athenian armies. _Cornelius Nepos_,
_Timoleon_.

=Menesthius=, a Greek killed by Paris in the Trojan war.

=Menetas=, a man set governor over Babylon by Alexander. _Curtius_,
bk. 5, ch. 1.

=Meninx=, or =Lotophagītis insula=, now _Zerbi_, an island on the
coast of Africa, near the Syrtis Minor. It was peopled by the people
of Neritos, and thence called _Neritia_. _Pliny_, bk. 5, ch. 7.
――_Strabo_, bk. 17.――_Silius Italicus_, bk. 3, li. 318.

=Menippa=, one of the Amazons who assisted Ætes, &c.

=Menippides=, a son of Hercules. _Apollodorus._

=Menippus=, a cynic philosopher of Phœnicia. He was originally a slave,
and obtained his liberty with a sum of money, and became one of the
greatest usurers at Thebes. He grew so desperate from the continual
reproaches and insults to which he was daily exposed on account of
his meanness, that he destroyed himself. He wrote 13 books of satires,
which have been lost. Marcus Varro composed satires in imitation of
his style, and called them _Menippean_.――――A native of Stratonice,
who was preceptor to Cicero for some time. _Cicero_, _Brutus_, ch. 91.

=Menius=, a plebeian consul at Rome. He was the first who made the
rostrum at Rome with the beaks (_rostra_) of the enemy’s ships.――――A
son of Lycaon, killed by the same thunderbolt which destroyed his
father. _Ovid_, _Ibis_, li. 472.

=Mennis=, a town of Assyria abounding in bitumen. _Curtius_, bk. 5,
ch. 1.

=Menodŏtus=, a physician.――――A Samian historian.

=Menœceus=, a Theban, father of Hipponome, Jocasta, and Creon.――――A
young Theban, son of Creon. He offered himself to death when Tiresias,
to ensure victory on the side of Thebes against the Argive forces,
ordered the Thebans to sacrifice one of the descendants of those who
sprang from the dragon’s teeth, and he killed himself near the cave
where the dragon of Mars had formerly resided. The gods required this
sacrifice because the dragon had been killed by Cadmus, and no sooner
was Creon dead than his countrymen obtained the victory. _Statius_,
_Thebiad_, bk. 10, li. 614.――_Euripides_, _Phœnician Women_.
――_Apollodorus_, bk. 3, ch. 6.――_Cicero_, _Tusculanæ Disputationes_,
bk. 1, ch. 98.――_Sophocles_, _Antigone_.

=Menœtes=, the pilot of the ship Gyas, at the naval games exhibited by
Æneas at the anniversary of his father’s death. He was thrown into
the sea by Gyas for his inattention, and saved himself by swimming to
a rock. _Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 5, li. 161, &c.――――An Arcadian, killed
by Turnus in the wars of Æneas. _Æneid_, bk. 12, li. 517.

=Menœtiades.= _See:_ Menœtius.

=Menœtius=, a son of Actor and Ægina after her amour with Jupiter.
He left his mother and went to Opus, where he had, by Sthenele,
or, according to others, by Philomela or Polymela, Patroclus, often
called from him _Menœtiades_. Menœtius was one of the Argonauts.
_Apollodorus_, bk. 4, ch. 24.――_Homer_, _Iliad_, bk. 1, li. 307.
――_Hyginus_, fable 97.

=Menon=, a Thessalian commander in the expedition of Cyrus the younger
against his brother Artaxerxes. He was dismissed on the suspicion
that he had betrayed his fellow-soldiers. _Diodorus_, bk. 14.――――A
Thessalian refused the freedom of Athens, though he furnished a
number of auxiliaries to the people.――――The husband of Semiramis.
――――A sophist in the age of Socrates.――――One of the first kings of
Phrygia. _Dionysius of Halicarnassus._――――A scholar of Phidias, &c.

=Menophĭlus=, a eunuch to whom Mithridates, when conquered by Pompey,
entrusted the care of his daughter. Menophilus murdered the princess
for fear of her falling into the enemy’s hands. _Ammianus_, bk. 16.

=Menta=, or =Minthe=. _See:_ Minthe.

=Mentes=, a king of the Taphians in Ætolia, son of Anchialus, in the
time of the Trojan war.

=Mentissa=, a town of Spain. _Livy_, bk. 26, ch. 17.

=Mento=, a Roman consul, &c.

=Mentor=, a faithful friend of Ulysses.――――A son of Hercules.――――A king
of Sidonia, who revolted against Artaxerxes Ochus, and afterwards was
restored to favour by his treachery to his allies, &c. _Diodorus_,
bk. 16.――――An excellent artist in polishing cups and engraving flowers
on them. _Pliny_, bk. 33, ch. 11.――_Martial_, bk. 9, ltr. 63, ltr. 16.

=Menyllus=, a Macedonian set over the garrison which Antipater had
stationed at Athens. He attempted in vain to corrupt the innocence of
Phocion. _Plutarch._

=Mera=, a priest of Venus. _Statius_, _Thebiad_, bk. 8, li. 478.――――A
dog of Icarius, which by his cries showed Erigone where her murdered
father had been thrown. Immediately after this discovery the daughter
hung herself in despair, and the dog pined away, and was made a
constellation in the heavens known by the name of Canis. _Ovid_,
_Metamorphoses_, bk. 7, li. 363.――_Hyginus_, fable 130.――_Ælian_,
_Varia Historia_, bk. 7, ch. 28.

=Mera=, or =Mœra=, one of the Atlantides, who married Tegeates son of
Lycaon. _Pausanias_, bk. 8, ch. 48.

=Mercurii promontorium=, a cape of Africa near Clypea. _Livy_, bk. 26,
ch. 44; bk. 29, ch. 27.――_Pliny_, bk. 5, ch. 4.

=Mercŭrius=, a celebrated god of antiquity, called Hermes by the Greeks.
There were no less than five of this name according to Cicero; a son
of Cœlus and Lux; a son of Valens and Coronis; a son of the Nile; a
son of Jupiter and Maia; and another called by the Egyptians Thaut.
Some add a sixth, a son of Bacchus and Proserpine. To the son of
Jupiter and Maia, the actions of all the others have been probably
attributed, as he is the most famous and the best known. Mercury
was the messenger of the gods, and of Jupiter in particular; he was
the patron of travellers and of shepherds; he conducted the souls
of the dead into the infernal regions, and not only presided over
orators, merchants, declaimers, but he was also the god of thieves,
pickpockets, and all dishonest persons. His name is derived _a
mercibus_, because he was the god of merchandise among the Latins.
He was born, according to the more received opinion, in Arcadia, on
mount Cyllene, and in his infancy he was entrusted to the care of the
Seasons. The day that he was born, or more probably the following day,
he gave an early proof of his craftiness and dishonesty, in stealing
away the oxen of Admetus which Apollo tended. He gave another proof
of his thievish propensity, by taking also the quiver and arrows of
the divine shepherd, and he increased his fame by robbing Neptune of
his trident, Venus of her girdle, Mars of his sword, Jupiter of his
sceptre, and Vulcan of many of his mechanical instruments. These
specimens of his art recommended him to the notice of the gods, and
Jupiter took him as his messenger, interpreter, and cup-bearer in
the assembly of the gods. This last office he discharged till the
promotion of Ganymede. He was presented by the king of heaven with
a winged cap called _petasus_, and with wings for his feet called
_talaria_. He had also a short sword called _herpe_, which he lent
to Perseus. With these he was enabled to go into whatever part of the
universe he pleased with the greatest celerity; and besides, he was
permitted to make himself invisible, and to assume whatever shape
he pleased. As messenger of Jupiter he was entrusted with all his
secrets. He was the ambassador and plenipotentiary of the gods, and
he was concerned in all alliances and treaties. He was the confidant
of Jupiter’s amours, and he often was set to watch over the jealousy
and intrigues of Juno. The invention of the lyre and its seven
strings is ascribed to him. This he gave to Apollo, and received in
exchange the celebrated caduceus with which the god of poetry used
to drive the flocks of king Admetus. _See:_ Caduceus. In the wars of
the giants against the gods, Mercury showed himself brave, spirited,
and active. He delivered Mars from the long confinement which he
suffered from the superior power of the Aloides. He purified the
Danaides of the murder of their husbands, he tied Ixion to his wheel
in the infernal regions, he destroyed the hundred-eyed Argus, he
sold Hercules to Omphale the queen of Lydia, he conducted Priam to
the tent of Achilles, to redeem the body of his son Hector, and he
carried the infant Bacchus to the nymphs of Nysa. Mercury had many
surnames and epithets. He was called Cyllenius, Caduceator, Acacetos,
from Acacos, an Arcadian; Acacesius, Tricephalos, Triplex, Chthonius,
Camillus, Agoneus, Delius, Arcas, &c. His children are also numerous
as well as his amours. He was father of Autolycus by Chione; of
Myrtillus by Cleobula; of Libys by Libya; of Echion and Eurytus by
Antianira; of Cephalus by Creusa; of Prylis by Issa; and of Priapus,
according to some. He was also father of Hermaphroditus by Venus; of
Eudorus by Polimela; of Pan by Dryope, or Penelope. His worship was
well established, particularly in Greece, Egypt, and Italy. He was
worshipped at Tanagra in Bœotia, under the name of Criophorus, and
represented as carrying a ram on his shoulders, because he delivered
the inhabitants from a pestilence by telling them to carry a ram in
that manner round the walls of their city. The Roman merchants yearly
celebrated a festival on the 15th of May, in honour of Mercury, in a
temple near the Circus Maximus. A pregnant sow was then sacrificed,
and sometimes a calf and particularly the tongues of animals were
offered. After the votaries had sprinkled themselves with water with
laurel leaves, they offered prayers to the divinity, and entreated
him to be favourable to them, and to forgive whatever artful measures,
false oaths, or falsehoods they had used or uttered in the pursuit
of gain. Sometimes Mercury appears on monuments with a large cloak
round his arm, or tied under his chin. The chief ensigns of his power
and offices are his _caduceus_, his _petasus_, and his _talaria_.
Sometimes he is represented sitting upon a crayfish, holding in one
hand his caduceus, and in the other the claws of the fish. At other
times he is like a young man without a beard, holding in one hand
a purse, as being the tutelary god of merchants, with a cock on his
wrists as an emblem of vigilance, and at his feet a goat, a scorpion,
and a fly. Some of his statues represented him as a youth _fascino
erecto_. Sometimes he rests his foot upon a tortoise. In Egypt
his statues represented him with the head of a dog, whence he was
often confounded with Anubis, and received the sacrifice of a stork.
Offerings of milk and honey were made because he was the god of
eloquence, whose powers were sweet and persuasive. The Greeks and
Romans offered tongues to him by throwing them into the fire, as
he was the patron of speaking of which the tongue is the organ.
Sometimes his statues represent him as without arms, because,
according to some, the power of speech can prevail over everything,
even without the assistance of arms. _Homer_, _Odyssey_, bk. 1, &c.;
_Iliad_, bk. 1, &c.; _Hymn to Hermes_.――_Lucian_, _Dialogi Mortuorum_.
――_Ovid_, _Fasti_, bk. 5, li. 667; _Metamorphoses_, bks. 1, 4,
11, 14.――_Martial_, bk. 9, ltr. 35.――_Statius_, _Thebiad_, bk. 4.
――_Pausanias_, bks. 1, 7, 8, & 9.――_Orpheus._――_Plutarch_, _Numa_.
――_Varro_, _de Lingua Latina_, bk. 6.――_Plato_, _Phædras_.――_Livy_,
bk. 36.――_Virgil_, _Georgics_, bk. 1; _Æneid_, bk. 1, li. 48.
――_Diodorus_, bks. 4 & 5.――_Apollodorus_, bks. 1, 2, & 3.
――_Apollonius_, _Argonautica_, bk. 1.――_Horace_, bk. 1, ode 10.
――_Hyginus_, _Poetica Astronomica_, bk. 2.――_Tzetzes_, _Lycophron_,
li. 219.――_Cicero_, _de Natura Deorum_.――_Lactantius [Placidus].
_――_Philostratus_, bk. 1, _Imagines_, ch. 27.――_Marcus Manilius.
_――_Macrobius_, bk. 1, _Saturnalia_, ch. 19.――――Trismegistus, a
priest and philosopher of Egypt, who taught his countrymen how to
cultivate the olive, and measure their lands, and to understand
hieroglyphics. He lived in the age of Osiris, and wrote 40 books
on theology, medicine, and geography, from which Sanchoniathon the
Phœnician historian has taken his theogonia. _Diodorus_, bks. 1, & 5.
――_Plutarch_, _de Iside et Osiride_.――_Cicero_, bk. 3, _de Natura
Deorum_.

=Merĕtrix=, a name under which Venus was worshipped at Abydos and at
Samos, because both those places had been benefited by the intrigues
or the influence of courtesans. _Athenæus_, bk. 13.

=Mēriŏnes=, a charioteer of Idomeneus king of Crete during the Trojan
war, son of Molus, a Cretan prince, and Melphidis. He signalized
himself before Troy, and fought with Deiphobus the son of Priam,
whom he wounded. He was greatly admired by the Cretans, who even
paid him divine honours after death. _Horace_, bk. 1, ode 6,
li. 15.――_Homer_, _Iliad_, bk. 2, &c.――_Dictys Cretensis_, bk. 1,
&c.――_Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 13, fable 1.――――A brother of Jason
son of Æson, famous for his great opulence and for his avarice.
_Polyænus_, bk. 6, ch. 1.

=Mermĕros=, a centaur. _Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 12, li. 305.――――A
Trojan, killed by Antilochus.――――A son of Jason and Medea, who was
father to Ilus of Corinth. _Pausanias_, bk. 2, ch. 3.

=Mermnadæ=, a race of kings in Lydia, of which Gyges was the first.
They sat on the Lydian throne till the reign of Crœsus, who was
conquered by Cyrus king of Persia. They were descendants of the
Heraclidæ, and probably received the name of Mermnadæ from Mermnas,
one of their own family. They were descended from Lemnos, or,
according to others, from Agelaus, the son of Omphale by Hercules.
_Herodotus_, bk. 1, chs. 7 & 14.

=Meroe=, now _Nuabia_, an island of Æthiopia, with a town of the same
name, celebrated for its wines. Its original name was _Saba_, and
Cambyses gave it that of Meroe from his sister. _Strabo_, bk. 17.
――_Herodotus_, bk. 2, ch. 31.――_Pliny_, bk. 2, ch. 173.――_Mela_,
bk. 1.――_Lucan_, bk. 4, lis. 3, 33; bk. 10, lis. 163 & 303. =Merŏpe=,
one of the Atlantides. She married Sisyphus son of Æolus, and, like
her sisters, was changed into a constellation after death. _See:_
Pleiades. It is said, that in the constellation of the Pleiades the
star of Merope appears more dim and obscure than the rest, because
she, as the poets observe, married a mortal, while her sisters
married some of the gods or their descendants. _Ovid_, _Fasti_, bk. 4,
li. 175.――_Diodorus_, bk. 4.――_Hyginus_, fable 192.――_Apollodorus_,
bk. 1, ch. 9.――――A daughter of Cypselus, who married Cresphontes
king of Messenia, by whom she had three children. Her husband and two
of her children were murdered by Polyphontes. The murderer obliged
her to marry him, and she would have been forced to comply had not
Epytus or Telephontes, her third son, revenged his father’s death by
assassinating Polyphontes. _Apollodorus_, bk. 2, ch. 6.――_Pausanias_,
bk. 4, ch. 3.――――A daughter of Œnopion, beloved by Orion.
_Apollodorus_, bk. 1, ch. 4.――――A daughter of the Cebrenus, who
married Æsacus the son of Priam.――――A daughter of Erechtheus, mother
of Dædalus. _Plutarch_, _Theseus_.――――A daughter of Pandarus.――――A
daughter of the river Sangarius, who married king Priam.

=Merops=, a king of the island of Cos, who married Clymene, one
of the Oceanides. He was changed into an eagle and placed among
the constellations. _Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 1, li. 763.
――_Apollodorus_, bk. 3.――_Hyginus_, _Poetica astronomica_, bk. 2,
ch. 16.――――A celebrated soothsayer of Percosus in Troas, who foretold
the death of his sons Adrastus and Amphius, who were engaged in the
Trojan war. They slighted their father’s advice, and were killed by
Diomedes. _Homer_, _Iliad_, bk. 2.――――One of the companions of Æneas,
killed by Turnus. _Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 9, li. 702.

=Meros=, a mountain of India sacred to Jupiter. It is called by Pliny,
bk. 6, ch. 21, Nysa. Bacchus was educated upon it, whence arose the
fable that Bacchus was confined in the thigh (μηρος) of his father.
_Mela_, bk. 2, ch. 7.――_Pliny_, bk. 8, ch. 13.――_Curtius_, bk. 8,
ch. 10.――_Diodorus_, bk. 1.

=Merŭla Cornelius=, a Roman who fought against the Gauls, and who was
made consul by Octavius in the place of Cinna. He some time after
killed himself in despair, &c. _Plutarch._

=Mesabătes=, a eunuch in Persia, flayed alive by order of Parysatis,
because he had cut off the head and right hand of Cyrus. _Plutarch_,
_Artaxerxes_.

=Mesabius=, a mountain of Bœotia, hanging over the Euripus. _Pausanias_,
bk. 9, ch. 22.

=Mesapia=, an ancient name of Bœotia.

=Mesaubius=, a servant of Eumæus the steward of Ulysses. _Homer_,
_Odyssey_, bk. 14, li. 449.

=Mesembria=, now _Miseuria_, a maritime city of Thrace. Hence
_Mesembriacus_. _Ovid_, bk. 1, _Tristia_, bk. 6, li. 37.――――Another
at the mouth of the Lissus.

=Mesene=, an island in the Tigris where Apamea was built, now _Disel_.
_Pliny_, bk. 6, ch. 27.

=Mesomēdes=, a lyric poet in the age of the emperor Antoninus.

=Mesopotămia=, a country of Asia, which receives its name from its
situation (μεσος ποταμος) _between_ the _rivers_ Tigris and Euphrates.
It is yearly inundated by the Euphrates, and the water properly
conveyed over the country by canals. It is now called _Diarbec_.
_Strabo_, bk. 2.――_Mela_, bk. 1, ch. 11.――_Cicero_, _de Natura
Deorum_, bk. 2, ch. 52.

=Messāla=, a name of Valerius Corvinus, from his having conquered
Messana in Sicily. This family was very ancient; the most celebrated
was a friend of Brutus, who seized the camp of Augustus at Philippi.
He was afterwards reconciled to Augustus, and died A.D. 9, in his
77th year. _Plutarch._――――Another consul, &c.――――The father of
Valeria, who married the dictator Sylla. _Plutarch._――――A great
flatterer at the court of Tiberius.――――A governor of Syria.――――A
tribune in one of the Roman legions during the civil war between
Vespasian and Vitellius, of which he wrote an historical account
mentioned by Tacitus, _Dialogue on Oratory_, ch. 14.――――A consul with
Domitius, &c.――――A painter at Rome, who flourished B.C. 235.――――A
writer, whose book _de Augusti progenie_ was edited 12mo, Leiden,
1648.

=Messalīna Valeria=, a daughter of Messala Barbatus. She married
the emperor Claudius, and disgraced herself by her cruelties and
incontinence. Her husband’s palace was not the only seat of her
lasciviousness, but she prostituted herself in the public streets,
and few men there were at Rome who could not boast of having enjoyed
the favours of the impure Messalina. Her extravagancies at last
irritated her husband; he commanded her to appear before him to
answer all the accusations which were brought against her, upon which
she attempted to destroy herself, and when her courage failed, one of
the tribunes, who had been sent to her, despatched her with his sword,
A.D. 48. It is in speaking of her debaucheries and lewdness that a
celebrated satirist says,

_Et lassata viris, necdum satiata, recessit_.

_Juvenal._――_Tacitus_, _Annals_, bk. 11, ch. 37.――_Suetonius_,
_Claudius_.――_Dio Cassius._――――Another, called also Statilia. She
was descended from a consular family, and married the consul Atticus
Vistinus, whom Nero murdered. She received with great marks of
tenderness her husband’s murderer and married him. She had married
four husbands before she came to the imperial throne; and after
the death of Nero she retired to literary pursuits and peaceful
occupations. Otho courted her, and would have married her had he not
destroyed himself. In his last moments he wrote her a very pathetic
and consolatory letter, &c. _Tacitus_, _Annals_.

=Messālīnus Marcus Valerius=, a Roman officer in the reign of Tiberius.
He was appointed governor of Dalmatia, and rendered himself known by
his opposition to Piso, and by his attempts to persuade the Romans
of the necessity of suffering women to accompany the camps on
their different expeditions. _Tacitus_, _Annals_, bk. 3.――――One
of Domitian’s informers.――――A flatterer of the emperor Tiberius.

=Messāna=, an ancient and celebrated town of Sicily, on the straits
which separate Italy from Sicily. It was anciently called _Zancle_,
and was founded 1600 years before the christian era. The inhabitants,
being continually exposed to the depredation of the people of Cuma,
implored the assistance of the Messenians of Peloponnesus, and
with them repelled the enemy. After this victorious campaign, the
Messenians entered Zancle, and lived in such intimacy with the
inhabitants that they changed their name, and assumed that of the
Messenians, and called their city Messana. Another account say that
Anaxilaus tyrant of Rhegium made war against the Zancleans, with the
assistance of the Messenians of Peloponnesus, and that after he had
obtained a decisive victory, he called the conquered city Messana in
compliment to his allies, about 494 years before the christian era.
After this revolution at Zancle, the Mamertini took possession of it,
and made it the capital of the neighbouring country. _See:_ Mamertini.
It afterwards fell into the hands of the Romans, and was for some
time the chief of their possessions in Sicily. The inhabitants
were called Messanii, Messanienses, and Mamertini. The straits of
Messana have always been looked upon as very dangerous, especially
by the ancients, on account of the rapidity of the currents, and the
irregular and violent flowing and ebbing of the sea. _Strabo_, bk. 6.
――_Mela_, bk. 2, ch. 7.――_Pausanias_, bk. 4, ch. 23.――_Diodorus_,
bk. 4.――_Thucydides_, bk. 1, &c.――_Herodotus_, bk. 6, ch. 23; bk. 7,
ch. 28.

=Messapia=, a country of Italy, between Tarentum and Brundusium. It
is the same as Calabria. It received its name from Messapus the son
of Neptune, who left a part of Bœotia called _Messapia_, and came
to Italy, where he assisted the Rutulians against Æneas. _Ovid_,
_Metamorphoses_, bk. 14, li. 513.――_Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 7, li. 691;
bk. 8, li. 6; bk. 9, li. 27.

=Messatis=, a town of Achaia. _Pausanias_, bk. 7, ch. 18.

=Messe=, a town in the island of Cythera. _Statius_, bk. 1, _Thebiad_,
bk. 4, li. 226.

=Messeis=, a fountain of Thessaly. _Strabo_, bk. 9.

=Messēne=, a daughter of Triopas king of Argos, who married Polycaon,
son of Lelex king of Laconia. She encouraged her husband to levy
troops, and to seize a part of Peloponnesus, which, after it had been
conquered, received her name. She received divine honours after her
death, and had a magnificent temple at Ithome, where her statue was
made half of gold and half of Parian marble. _Pausanias_, bk. 4,
chs. 1 & 13.

=Messēne=, or =Messēna=, now _Maura-Matra_, a city in the Peloponnesus,
the capital of the country called Messenia. The inhabitants have
rendered themselves famous for the war which they carried on against
the Spartans, and which received the appellation of the _Messenian
war_. The first Messenian war arose from the following circumstances.
The Messenians offered violence to some Spartan women, who had
assembled to offer sacrifices in a temple which was common to
both nations, and which stood on the borders of their respective
territories; and, besides, they killed Teleclus the Spartan king,
who attempted to defend the innocence of the females. This account,
according to the Spartan traditions, is contradicted by the
Messenians, who observe that Teleclus, with a chosen body of
Spartans, assembled at the temple before mentioned, disguised in
women’s clothes, and all secretly armed with daggers. This hostile
preparation was to surprise some of the neighbouring inhabitants;
and in a quarrel which soon after arose, Teleclus and his associates
were all killed. These quarrels were the cause of the first Messenian
war, which began B.C. 743. It was carried on with vigour and spirit
on both sides, and after many obstinate and bloody battles had been
fought and continued for 19 years, it was at last finished by the
taking of Ithome by the Spartans, a place which had stood a siege of
10 years, and been defended with all the power of the Messenians. The
insults to which the conquered Messenians were continually exposed
at last excited their resentment, and they resolved to shake off the
yoke. They suddenly revolted, and the second Messenian war was begun
685 B.C., and continued 14 years. The Messenians at first gained
some advantage, but a fatal battle in the third year of the war so
totally disheartened them, that they fled to Ira, where they resolved
to maintain an obstinate siege against their victorious pursuers.
The Spartans were assisted by the Samians in besieging Ira, and the
Messenians were at last obliged to submit to the superior power of
their adversaries. The taking of Ira by the Lacedæmonians, after
a siege of 11 years, put an end to the second Messenian war. Peace
was re-established for some time in Peloponnesus, but after the
expiration of 200 years, the Messenians attempted a third time to
free themselves from the power of Lacedæmon, B.C. 465. At that time
the Helots had revolted from the Spartans, and the Messenians, by
joining their forces to these wretched slaves, looked upon their
respective calamities as common, and thought themselves closely
interested in each other’s welfare. The Lacedæmonians were assisted
by the Athenians, but they soon grew jealous of one another’s power,
and their political connection ended in the most inveterate enmity,
and at last in open war. Ithome was the place in which the Messenians
had a second time gathered all their forces, and though 10 years had
already elapsed, both parties seemed equally confident of victory.
The Spartans were afraid of storming Ithome, as the oracle of Delphi
had threatened them with the greatest calamities if they offered any
violence to a place which was dedicated to the service of Apollo. The
Messenians, however, were soon obliged to submit to their victorious
adversaries, B.C. 453, and they consented to leave their native
country, and totally to depart from the Peloponnesus, solemnly
promising that if they ever returned into Messenia, they would suffer
themselves to be sold as slaves. The Messenians upon this, miserably
exiled, applied to the Athenians for protection, and were permitted
to inhabit Naupactus, whence some of them were afterwards removed to
take possession of their ancient territories in Messenia, during the
Peloponnesian war. The third Messenian war was productive of great
revolutions in Greece, and though almost a private quarrel, it soon
engaged the attention of all the neighbouring states, and kindled the
flames of dissension everywhere. Every state took up arms as if in
its own defence, or to prevent additional power and dominion from
being lodged in the hands of its rivals. The descendants of the
Messenians at last returned to Peloponnesus, B.C. 370, after a long
banishment of 300 years. _Pausanias_, _Messenia_, &c.――_Justin_,
bk. 3, ch. 4, &c.――_Strabo_, bk. 6, &c.――_Thucydides_, bk. 1, &c.
――_Diodorus_, bk. 11, &c.――_Plutarch_, _Cimon_, &c.――_Polyænus_,
bk. 3.――_Polybius_, bk. 4, &c.

=Messēnia=, a province of Peloponnesus, situate between Laconia, Elis,
Arcadia, and the sea. Its chief city is Messena. _See:_ Messena.

=Mestor=, a son of Perseus and Andromeda, who married Lysidice daughter
of Pelops, by whom he had Hippothoe.――――A son of Pterilaus.――――of
Priam. _Apollodorus._

=Mesūla=, a town of Italy, in the country of the Sabines.

=Metăbus=, a tyrant of the Privernates. He was father of Camilla, whom
he consecrated to the service of Diana, when he had been banished
from his kingdom by his subjects. _Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 11, li. 540.

=Metagitnia=, a festival in honour of Apollo, celebrated by the
inhabitants of Melite, who migrated to Attica. It receives its name
from its being observed in the month called Metagitnion.

=Metanīra=, the wife of Celeus king of Eleusis, who first taught
mankind agriculture. She is also called Meganira. _Apollodorus_,
bk. 1, ch. 5.

=Metapontum=, a town of Lucania in Italy, founded about 1269 years B.C.
by Metabus the father of Camilla, or Epeus, one of the companions
of Nestor. Pythagoras retired there for some time, and perished
in a sedition. Annibal made it his head-quarters when in that part
of Italy, and its attachment to Carthage was afterwards severely
punished by the Roman conquerors, who destroyed its liberties and
independence. A few broken pillars of marble are now the only
vestiges of Metapontum. _Strabo_, bk. 5.――_Mela_, bk. 2, ch. 4.
――_Justin_, bk. 12, ch. 2.――_Livy_, bks. 1, 8, 25, 27, &c.

=Metapontus=, a son of Sisyphus, who married ♦Theano. _See:_ ♦Theano.
_Hyginus_, fable 166.

♦ ‘Theana’ replaced with ‘Theano’ for consistency

=Metaurus=, now _Metro_, a town with a small river of the same name, in
the country of the Brutii. The river Metaurus falls into the Tyrrhene
sea above Sicily.――――Another, in Umbria, famous for the defeat of
Asdrubal by the consuls Livy and Nero. _Horace_, bk. 4, ode 4, li. 38.
――_Mela_, bk. 2, ch. 4.――_Lucan_, bk. 2, li. 495.

=Metella=, the wife of Sylla.