They are marked by purity of diction and
by feeling, but they betray, at the same time, some-
thing of that sophistic subtlety which characterized his
age.
by feeling, but they betray, at the same time, some-
thing of that sophistic subtlety which characterized his
age.
Charles - 1867 - Classical Dictionary
) In either of these cases,
however, the word Annsus would most probably have
been added to his name. --There is reason to believe
that his true name was not Mela, but Molla. (Com-
pare Voss. , de Hist. Lat. , 1, 25. -- Fabricius, Bihl.
Lot. , 2, 8, p. 75, seqq. --Saxe, Onomast. , 1, p. 243. --
Tzschucke, Diss, de Pomp. Mel. ) - Pomponius Mela
names his native city in one passage of his work (2,
6), but the text unfortunately is so corrupt, that it is
uncertain whether we ought to read Tingentera, Mel-
? aria, Tarlessus, or Tingisbera. He lived, as has
been already remarked, under the Emperor Claudius,
? ? for the passage (3, 6) in which he speaks of a triumph
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? MEL
He awoke in some terror; and, to his astonishment,
found that lie understood the voices of the birds which
were flying around him; and, learning from their
tongues the future, he was enabled to declare it to
mankind. Meeting Apollo on the banks of the Al-
pheus, he was taught by him the art of reading futu-
rity in the entrails of victims, and he thus became an
excellent soothsayer. {Apollod. , 1, 9, 11. --Sehol. ad
Apill. Shod. , 1, 118) Meanwhile, his brother Bias
fell in love with Pcro. the daughter of Nelcus. As
th? hand of this beautiful maiden was sought by most
of the neighbouring princes, her father declared that
he would give her only to him. who 'hould bring him
from Thessaly tho cows of his mother Tyro, which
Iphii lus of Phylace detained, and which he guarded
by means of a dog whom neither man nor beast could
venture to approach. Bias, relying on the aid of his
bro'. her, undertook the adventure. Melampus, pre-
viously declaring that he knew he should be caught
and confined for a year, but then get the cattle, set
out for Phylace. Every thing fell out as he said. --
The herdsman of Iphiclus took him, and he was
thrown into prison, where he was attended by a man
and a woman. The man served him well, the woman
badly. Towards the end of the year he heard the
worms in the timber conversing with one another.
One asked how much of the beam was now gnawed
through; the others replied that there was little re-
maining. Melampus immediately desired to be re-
moved to some other place; the man took up the bed
? t the head, the woman at the foot, Melampus himself
at the middle. They had not got quite out of the
house, when the roof fell in and killed the woman.
This coming to the ears of Iphiclus, he inquired, and
learned that Melampus was a soothsayer or Mantis.
He therefore, being childless, consulted him about
(laving offspring. Melampus agreed to tell him on
condition of his giving him the cows. The seer, on
fphiclus assenting to his terms, then sacrificed an ox
to Jupiter, and, having divided it, called all the birds
to the feast. All came but the vulture; but no one
if them was able to tell how Iphiclus might have chil-
dren. They therefore brought the vulture, who gave
the requisite information. Iphiclus became the father
of a >>on named Podarces; and Melampus drove the
kine to Pylos, whereupon Pero was given to his
brother. (CW. ,11,287. --Schol. , ad loc. --Od. , 15,225.
--Apollod. , 1, 9, 11. --Schol. ad Theocr. , 3, 43. }--
Melampus was also famous for the cure of the daugh-
ters of Prcetus, who were afflicted with insanity. For
an account of this legend, consult the article Provi-
des. (Keightley's Mythology, p. 436, sea )--II. A
writer on divination, who lived in the time of Ptolemy
Philadelphus. He was the author of a treatise en-
tilled MavTtKr/ irtpi iratyuv, "Divination from vi-
brations of the muscles," and of another styled nfpt
IXaiuv tov au/iaroc, "Art of divining from marks on
the body. " We have only fragments remaining of
these two works. The library at Vienna contains
another work of this aame writer's, in manuscript, on
the Art of predicting from the phases of the moon.
The fragments of Melampus were edited by Pcrusius,
at the end of his ^Elian, Roma, 1545, 4lo, and subse-
quently by Sylburgius, who, in his edition of Aristotle,
reunited them to the physiognomical works of that
philosopher. They are lo be found also in the Scrip-
tores l'hysiognomia Veteres of Franz, Altcnb. , 1780,
Svo.
? ? Mixampyges, an epithet applied to Hercules in the
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? MEl
MELEAGER.
rte cir -. umstance that Aratus, no mean judge of works
ill lit, collected from every quarter the productions of
Meranthius along with those of Pamphilus, and made
i present of them to Ptolemy III. , king of Egypt.
(Phtl. , Vit. Arat. , c. SI. ) He left a treatise on Paint-
ing, a fragment of which has been preserved by Dio-
genes Laertius (4, 18), and of which Pliny availed
hhnself in writing the 30th book of his Natural His-
lory. (Sillig, Diet Art. , *. o )
Mklanthus, a son of Andropompus, whose ances-
tors were kings of Pylos, in Messenia. Having been
driven by the Heraclidse from his paternal kingdom,
be came to Athens, where Thymoetes, monarch of
Attica, gave him a friendly reception. Some time
after this, the Boeotians, under Xanthus, having invaded
Attica, Thymoetes marched forth to meet them.
Xanthus thereupon propose! to decide the issue of
the war by single combat, but Thymoetes shrank from
the risk, whereupon Mclanthus came forward and ac-
cepted the challenge. By a stratagem, famous in af-
ter ages, he diverted the attention of his adversary,
and slew him as he turned to look at the ally whom
Melanthus affected to see behind him. The victor
was rewarded with the kingdom, which Thymoetes
had forfeited by his pusillanimity, and which now pass-
ed for ever from the house of Erechtheus. Melanthus
transmitted the crown to his son Codrus. (Pausan ,
t, 18. --Thirlwair$ Greece, vol. 1, p. 274 )
Mki. as (gen. -a), I. a deep gulf formed by the
Thracian coast on the northwest, and the shore of the
Chersonese on the southeast; its appellation in mod-
em geography is the Gulf of Saros. --II. A river of
Thrace, now the Cavalcha, emptying into the Sinus
Melas at its northeastern extremity. (Herod. , 7, 58. --
in? . , 38, 40-- Plin. , 4, 11. )--HI. A river of Thes-
? sly. in the vicinity of the town of Trachis. (Herod. ,
7, 199--Lie. , 37, 84. )--IV. A small river of Bceolia,
near Urchotnenus, emptying into the Lake Copa'is.
IPausan. , 9, 38. ) Plutarch says that it rose close
to the city, and very soon became navigable, but
that part of it was lost in the marshes, while the re-
mainder joined the Cephissus. (Vit. Syll. --Strab. ,
416. ) Pliny remarks of its waters, that they had
Ibu property of dying the fleeces of sheep black (2,
10:)) In the marshes formed near the junction of
tl. is river with the Cephissus grew the reeds so much
esteemed by the ancient Greeks for making pipes and
'ather wind-instruments. (Pindar, Pyth. , 12, 42. --
Cramer's Arte. Greece, vol. 2, p. 249. )--V. A river
of Cappadocia, rising near Caesarea ad Argssum, and
falling into the Euphrates near the city of Mclilene.
SchilTinger (Rcite. , p. 68) calls it the Gensin; but on
D'Anville's map it bears in the beginning of its course
:he name of Koremox, and near its mouth that of
Kirkghedid. (Mannert, Geogr. , vol. 6, pt. 2, p. 296. )
--VI. A river of Pamphvlia, rising in the range of
Mount Taurus, to the west of Homonada, and running
into the sea between Side and Coracesium. (Strabo,
867. ) It formed originally the boundary between
Patnphylia and Cilicia. (Plin , 5, 27. ) According to
Leake, there can be no doubt that the Melas is the
river now called Menavgat su, for Zosimus (5, 16)
and Mela (1, 14) agree in showing its proximity to
Side. Strabo, Mela, and the Stadiasmus, all place it
to the eastward of Side, a. id the distance of SO stadia
in the Stadiasmus between the Melas and Side is pre-
cisely that which occurs between the ruins of Side
? ? and the month oi the river of Menavgat. (Leake's
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? MEb
MLI,
Me eager ran him through the flankj fcnd killed him.
He preset ted the skin and head to Atalanta; but the
sons of fhestius, his two uncles, offended at this
preferenr. u of a woman, took the skin from her, saying
that it fell to them of right, on account of their family,
if Meleager resigned his claim to it. Meleager, in a
rage, killed them, and restored the skin to Atalanta.
Althaea, on hearing of the death of her brothers, in-
fluenced by resentment for their loss, took from its
place of concealment the billet, on which depended
the existence of Meleager, and cast it into the flames.
As it consumed, the vigour of Meleager wasted away;
and when it was reduced to ashes, his life terminated.
Repenting, when too late, of what she had done, Al-
thaea put an end to her own life. Cleopatra died of
grief; and the sisters of Meleager, who would not be
comforted in their affliction, were, by the compassion
of the gods, all but Gorgo and Delanira, changed into
birds called Meleagrides. --There was another tradi-
tion, according to which Meleager was slain by Apol-
lo, the protecting deity of the Curetes. (Pausan. , 10,
31, Z. --Keightlcy's Mythology, p. 321, seqq. )--II.
A Greek poet, a native of Gadara in Coelesyria, and
either contemporary with Antipater, or a very short
time subsequent to him. He composed several works
of a satirical character, which we find quoted under
the following titles: 1. 2v/nrootov, "The Banquet. '"--
2. AeKiBov Kal ^aKf/c oiynpiaic, "A mixture of
yolks of eggs and beans. "--3. Xupirec, " The Gra-
tes. " Jacobs, however, thinks that the whole collec-
tion of his satires may have been rather entitled Xup-
trec. (Animadv. in Anthol. , 1, 1. --Prolegom. , p.
xzxviii. )--HI. Another poet, who has left about 130
epigrams.
They are marked by purity of diction and
by feeling, but they betray, at the same time, some-
thing of that sophistic subtlety which characterized his
age. Occasionally we meet with words rather too
boldly compounded. Meleager was the first who made
? collection of epigrams, or an anthology. He entitled
it iriAavoc, " The Crown. " It contained a selection
of the best pieces of forty-six poets, arranged in al-
phabetical order according to the names of the authors.
This compilation is lost. (Schbll, Hist. Lit. Gr. t
"Jl, 4, p. 45, 55. )
Meleaqkioes, the sisters of Meleager, daughters
of CEneus and Althaia. They were so disconsolate
at the death of their brother Meleager, that they re-
fused all aliment, and were changed into birds called
Meleagrides. The youngest of these sisters, Gorgo
and Deianira, who had been married, alone escaped
this metamorphosis. {Apollod. , 1, 8. --(hid, Met. , 8,
540. )
Mei. rs (ctis), a river of Asia Minor, near Smyrna.
Some of the ancinnts supposed that Homer was born
on the banks of this river, from which circumstance
they call him Melcsigenes. They also showed a cave,
where it was said that Homer had composed his verses.
(Pausan. , 7, 5. ) Chandler informs us that he search-
ed for this cavern, and succeeded in discovering it
above the aqueduct of the Meles. It is about four
feet wide, the roof of a huge rock, cracked and slant-
ing, the sides and bottom sandy. Beyond it is a pas-
sage cut, leading into a kind of well. (Travels in Asia.
Minor, p. 91. ) According to the same traveller, the
Meles, at the present day, is shallow in summer, not
covering its rocky bed; but, winding in the deep val-
ley behind the castle of Smyrna, it murmurs among the
? ? evergreens, and recoives many rills from the slopes;
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? MELITA.
MELITA.
jelonging to Africa, from its having Punic inhabitants,
and being no farther from Africa than from Sicily.
The earlier Greek historians do not mention it, since
it was regarded as a Carthaginian island, and lay with-
out their historical limits. Diodorus Siculus is the
first that gives us any account of it. "There are,"
he says, " over against that part of Sicily which lies to
the south, three islands at a distance in the sea, each
>>f which has a town and safe ports for ships overtaken
? y tempests. The first, called Melite, is about 800
Itadia from Syracuse, and has several excellent har-
bours. The inhabitants arc very rich, inasmuch as
they exercise many trades, and, in particular, manufac-
ture cloths remarkable for their softness and fineness.
Their houses are large, and splendid! / ornamented
with projections and stucco (ytioooic. xalviovia/iaai).
The island is a colony of the Phoenicians, who, trading
to the Western Ocean, use it as a place of refuge, be-
cause it has excellent ports, and lies in the midst of
the sea. Next to this island is another named Gaulus
(Gozo), with convenient harbours, which is also a
colony of Phoenicians. " (Diod. Sic, 5, 12. ) Malta
is said to have been subsequently occupied by the
Greeks; but, however this may be, the Carthaginians
obtained possession of it B. C. 402. In the first Pu-
nic war it was plundered by the Roman consul At-
tilius. (Ornsius, 4, 8. ) In the second Punic war it
surrendered to the Romans, and was regarded hence-
forth as an appendage to the province of Sicily. Its
commerce declined under its new masters, and the isl-
and became a not unfrequent haunt of pirates. It
appears, however, that its temple of Juno was rich
enough to be an object of plunder to the rapacious
Verres when he was prator of Sicily. (Cic. in Vcrr. ,
4, 46 ) The linen cloth of Malta was considered an
article of luxury at Rome. After the division of the
Roman empire at the death of Constantino, this island
was included in the share allotted to Constantius. It
fell subsequently into the hands of the Goths, who
were expelled by Belisarius, A. D. 533. The Arabs
conquered it in 870, and though it was recovered, and
held by the Eastern empire for the space of 34 years,
it was retaken by the Arabs, and the Greek inhabitants
were exterminated. In 1120, Count Roger, the Nor-
man conqueror of Sicily, look possession of Malta and
expelled tho Arabs. Malta was thus again attached to
the island of Sicily, and it became subject to the differ-
ent dynasties which successively governed that island.
In 1516, Sicily, with the Maltese islands, passed to
". he Emperor Charles V. , as heir to the crown of Arra-
gon. Un the 4th March, 1530, Charles granted to
the Knights of St. John, who had been recently expel-
led from Rhodes by the Turks, the ownership of all the
castles, fortresses, and isles of Tripoli, Malta, and
Gozo. with complete jurisdiclicn. The sovereignty
of Malta was by this grant, in effect, surrendered to the
knights, though the form of tenure from the crown of
Sicily was maintained by tho reservation of the annual
payment of a falcon by tho same to the King of Si-
cily or his viceroy. It wts soon fortified by the knights,
sod underwent several memorable sieges. In 1798, Bo-
naparte took possession of it on his expedition to Egypt;
and in 1SOO, the French garrison was obliged by famine
to capitulate to a British force. In 1814, thepossession
of it was confirmed to Great Britain by the treaty of
Paris. --The cotton manufactories of Malta have been
celebrated for many ages, and would seem to trace
? ? their origin to the times of the Phoenicians. The soil
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? MEL
MEM
o. ' Malta's having beer, the island in question, that, had
Meleda been the one, St. Paul would not have called
it Syracuse in his way to Rhegium, "which is so far
out of the track," says a writer who advocates this
opinion, " that no example can be produced in the his-
tory of naviga'ion of any ship going so far out of her
course, except it was driven by a violent tempest. "
This argument tends principally to show that the wri-
<<r had a verv incorrect idea of the relative situations
of the places to which he refers. The ship which car-
ried St. Paul from the Adriatic to Khcgium would not
deviate from its course more than half a day's sail by
touching at Syracuse; and the delay so occasioned
would probably be but a few hours more than it would
have been had they proceeded to Syracuse in their way
to the Straits of Messina from Malta. Besides, the
master of the ship might have, and probably had, some
business at Syracuse, which had originated at Alexan-
dres, from which place it must have been originally in-
tended that the ship should commence her voyage to
Putcoli; and in this, course the calling at Syracuse
would have been the smallest deviation possible--8.
Again, supposing the ship to have come from Malta,
it must have been on account of some business, prob-
ably commercial, that they touched at Syracuse in
their way to Putcoli, as Malta is scarcely more than
3tio day and night's sail from Syracuse: whereas
there might be some reasons respecting the voyage,
had the ship come from Meleda, which is more than
tve times that distance, and probably a more oncer-
Sain navigation. --9. As regards the wind Euroclydon,
. 1 may be observed, that the word evidently implies a
southeast wind. It is composed of Ei'ymc, the south-
east wind, and /v/. tiriur, a wave, an addition highly ex-
pressive of the character and effects of this wind, but
rrobably chiefly applied to it when it became typhonic
M tempestuous. Typhon is described by Pliny (2,
IB) as pracipuo navigantium peslis, non antennas
wiodo, verum ipsa navigia contorta frangens. The
course of the wind from the southeast would impel the
ship towards the island of Crete, though not so di-
rectly but /fiat they might weather it, as they in fact
did, and got clear, though it appears they encountered
some risk of being wrecked when running under, or
to the south of, the island of Clauda or Gaudos, which
lies opposite to the port of Phcenicc, the place where
they proposed to winter. A circumstance occurs in
this part of the narrative which creates some difficulty.
They who navigated the ship were apprehensive of
falling among the Syrtes, which lay on the coast of
Africa, nearly to the southwest of the western point of
Crete. But we should consider that this danger lay
only in the fears of the mariners, who, knowing the
Syrtes to be the great terror of those seas, and prob-
ably not being >>He to ascertain from what quarter the
wind blew, neither sun nor stars having been visible
for several days, and as these violent typhonic Le-
vanters are fcpt to change their direction, might en-
tertain apprehensions that they might be cast on these
dangerous quicksands. The event, however, proved
that the place of their danger was mistaken. (Class-
ical Journal, vol. 19, p. 218, seqq. -- Hale's Anal-
ysis of Chronology, vol. 1, p. 464, seqq. , ed. 2d,
1830. ) -
Mblitene, a district of Asia Minor, in the south-
eastern part of Armenia Minor, and lying along the
right bank of the Euphrates. The soil was fertile,
? ? and yielded fruits of every kind; in this mspect dif-
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? MEM
NF. M
appointed candidate. (Vid. Marius. )--HI. L. Mem-
mius Gemellus, was tribune of the commons B. C.
M. and praetor B. C. 59, in which latter capacity he
Uad the government of Bilhynia. He was distinguish-
ed as an orator and-poet, and was the friend and patron
of Catullus and Lucretius, the latter of whom dedicated
his poem to him. Cicero describes him as a man of
rt literary acquirements, and well acquainted with
Grecian language and literature. (Brut. , 70. )
The same writer, however, represents him elsewhere
is a man of licentious habits. (/? . '/'? ad Alt. , 1, 18. )
Re was an opponent of Cesar's, and was driven into
exile by means of the latter, on the charge of bribery
in suing for the consulship, and also of extortion in the
province of Bithynia. He died in exile. (Cie , Ep.
ad Fam. , 13, I. --Manut. , ad loc. --Id. , Ep. ad Alt. ,
8, 1. --Ernesti, Ind. Hist. , s. r. )
Memnon, I. a personage frequently mentioned by
'he Greek writers. He is first spoken of in tho Odys-
sey as the son of Eos, or the morning, as a hero re-
markable for his beauty, and as the vanquisher of An-
tilochus (4, 188; 11, 521) Hesiod calls him the
King of the Ethiopians, and represents him as the son
ofTilhonus. (Theog. , 986 ) He is supposed to have
fought against the Greeks in the Trojan war, and to
have been slain by Achilles. In the "tvxooraaia, a
lost drama of . -Eschylus, the dead liody of Memnon is
carried away by his mother Eos. (Fragm. tfo. 261,
'? d. Dindorf. ) He is represented by most Greek wri-
*rs as King of the Ethiopians, but he is also said to
fcve been connected with Persia. According to Dio-
dorus (2, 22), Tithonus, the father of Memnon, govern-
ed Persia, at the time of the Trojan war, as the viceroy
of Teutamus, the Assyrian king; and Memnon erected
at Susa the palace which was afterward known by the
name of Memnonium. Diodorus also adds, that the
Ethiopians claimed Memnon as a native of their coun-
try. Pausanias combines the two accounts: he repre-
sents Memnon as king of the Ethiopians, but also says
that be came to Troy from Susa, and not from Ethio-
pia, subduing all the nations in his way. (Pausan. ,
10, 31, 6. --Id. , 1, 42, 2 ) iEschylus also, according
to Strabo, spoke of the Cissian, that is, Susian, parent-
age of Memnon (Strabo, 720): and Herodotus men-
tions the palace at Susa, called Memnonia, and also
says, that the city itself was sometimes described by
'he same name. (Herod. , 5, 53. seq. --Id. , 7, 151. )
The great majority of Greek writers agree in tracing
the origin of Memnon to Egypt or Ethiopia; and it is
not improbable that the name of Memnon was not
known in Susa till after the Persian conquest of Egypt,
and that the buildings there called Mcmnonian by the
Greeks were, in name, at least, the representative of
those in Egypt. The partial deciphering of the Egyp-
tian proper names affords us sufficient reason for be-
lieving, with Pausanias (1,42, 2), that the Memnon of
the Greeks may be identified with the Egyptian Pha-
mentoph, Phamenoth, Amenophis, or Amenolhph, of
which name the Greek one is probably only a corrup-
tion. Phamenoph is said to mean " the guardian of
the city of Ammon," or " devoted to Ammon," "be-
longing to Ammon. "--Memnon, then, must be regard-
ed as one nf the early heroes or kings of Egypt, whose
fame reached Greece in very early times. In the
eighteenth dynasty of Manetho the name of Amenophis
occurs, with this remark : "This is he who is supposed
to be the Memnon and the vocal stone. " He is Ameno-
? ? phis II. , and the son of Thutmosis, who is said to have
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however, the word Annsus would most probably have
been added to his name. --There is reason to believe
that his true name was not Mela, but Molla. (Com-
pare Voss. , de Hist. Lat. , 1, 25. -- Fabricius, Bihl.
Lot. , 2, 8, p. 75, seqq. --Saxe, Onomast. , 1, p. 243. --
Tzschucke, Diss, de Pomp. Mel. ) - Pomponius Mela
names his native city in one passage of his work (2,
6), but the text unfortunately is so corrupt, that it is
uncertain whether we ought to read Tingentera, Mel-
? aria, Tarlessus, or Tingisbera. He lived, as has
been already remarked, under the Emperor Claudius,
? ? for the passage (3, 6) in which he speaks of a triumph
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? MEL
He awoke in some terror; and, to his astonishment,
found that lie understood the voices of the birds which
were flying around him; and, learning from their
tongues the future, he was enabled to declare it to
mankind. Meeting Apollo on the banks of the Al-
pheus, he was taught by him the art of reading futu-
rity in the entrails of victims, and he thus became an
excellent soothsayer. {Apollod. , 1, 9, 11. --Sehol. ad
Apill. Shod. , 1, 118) Meanwhile, his brother Bias
fell in love with Pcro. the daughter of Nelcus. As
th? hand of this beautiful maiden was sought by most
of the neighbouring princes, her father declared that
he would give her only to him. who 'hould bring him
from Thessaly tho cows of his mother Tyro, which
Iphii lus of Phylace detained, and which he guarded
by means of a dog whom neither man nor beast could
venture to approach. Bias, relying on the aid of his
bro'. her, undertook the adventure. Melampus, pre-
viously declaring that he knew he should be caught
and confined for a year, but then get the cattle, set
out for Phylace. Every thing fell out as he said. --
The herdsman of Iphiclus took him, and he was
thrown into prison, where he was attended by a man
and a woman. The man served him well, the woman
badly. Towards the end of the year he heard the
worms in the timber conversing with one another.
One asked how much of the beam was now gnawed
through; the others replied that there was little re-
maining. Melampus immediately desired to be re-
moved to some other place; the man took up the bed
? t the head, the woman at the foot, Melampus himself
at the middle. They had not got quite out of the
house, when the roof fell in and killed the woman.
This coming to the ears of Iphiclus, he inquired, and
learned that Melampus was a soothsayer or Mantis.
He therefore, being childless, consulted him about
(laving offspring. Melampus agreed to tell him on
condition of his giving him the cows. The seer, on
fphiclus assenting to his terms, then sacrificed an ox
to Jupiter, and, having divided it, called all the birds
to the feast. All came but the vulture; but no one
if them was able to tell how Iphiclus might have chil-
dren. They therefore brought the vulture, who gave
the requisite information. Iphiclus became the father
of a >>on named Podarces; and Melampus drove the
kine to Pylos, whereupon Pero was given to his
brother. (CW. ,11,287. --Schol. , ad loc. --Od. , 15,225.
--Apollod. , 1, 9, 11. --Schol. ad Theocr. , 3, 43. }--
Melampus was also famous for the cure of the daugh-
ters of Prcetus, who were afflicted with insanity. For
an account of this legend, consult the article Provi-
des. (Keightley's Mythology, p. 436, sea )--II. A
writer on divination, who lived in the time of Ptolemy
Philadelphus. He was the author of a treatise en-
tilled MavTtKr/ irtpi iratyuv, "Divination from vi-
brations of the muscles," and of another styled nfpt
IXaiuv tov au/iaroc, "Art of divining from marks on
the body. " We have only fragments remaining of
these two works. The library at Vienna contains
another work of this aame writer's, in manuscript, on
the Art of predicting from the phases of the moon.
The fragments of Melampus were edited by Pcrusius,
at the end of his ^Elian, Roma, 1545, 4lo, and subse-
quently by Sylburgius, who, in his edition of Aristotle,
reunited them to the physiognomical works of that
philosopher. They are lo be found also in the Scrip-
tores l'hysiognomia Veteres of Franz, Altcnb. , 1780,
Svo.
? ? Mixampyges, an epithet applied to Hercules in the
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? MEl
MELEAGER.
rte cir -. umstance that Aratus, no mean judge of works
ill lit, collected from every quarter the productions of
Meranthius along with those of Pamphilus, and made
i present of them to Ptolemy III. , king of Egypt.
(Phtl. , Vit. Arat. , c. SI. ) He left a treatise on Paint-
ing, a fragment of which has been preserved by Dio-
genes Laertius (4, 18), and of which Pliny availed
hhnself in writing the 30th book of his Natural His-
lory. (Sillig, Diet Art. , *. o )
Mklanthus, a son of Andropompus, whose ances-
tors were kings of Pylos, in Messenia. Having been
driven by the Heraclidse from his paternal kingdom,
be came to Athens, where Thymoetes, monarch of
Attica, gave him a friendly reception. Some time
after this, the Boeotians, under Xanthus, having invaded
Attica, Thymoetes marched forth to meet them.
Xanthus thereupon propose! to decide the issue of
the war by single combat, but Thymoetes shrank from
the risk, whereupon Mclanthus came forward and ac-
cepted the challenge. By a stratagem, famous in af-
ter ages, he diverted the attention of his adversary,
and slew him as he turned to look at the ally whom
Melanthus affected to see behind him. The victor
was rewarded with the kingdom, which Thymoetes
had forfeited by his pusillanimity, and which now pass-
ed for ever from the house of Erechtheus. Melanthus
transmitted the crown to his son Codrus. (Pausan ,
t, 18. --Thirlwair$ Greece, vol. 1, p. 274 )
Mki. as (gen. -a), I. a deep gulf formed by the
Thracian coast on the northwest, and the shore of the
Chersonese on the southeast; its appellation in mod-
em geography is the Gulf of Saros. --II. A river of
Thrace, now the Cavalcha, emptying into the Sinus
Melas at its northeastern extremity. (Herod. , 7, 58. --
in? . , 38, 40-- Plin. , 4, 11. )--HI. A river of Thes-
? sly. in the vicinity of the town of Trachis. (Herod. ,
7, 199--Lie. , 37, 84. )--IV. A small river of Bceolia,
near Urchotnenus, emptying into the Lake Copa'is.
IPausan. , 9, 38. ) Plutarch says that it rose close
to the city, and very soon became navigable, but
that part of it was lost in the marshes, while the re-
mainder joined the Cephissus. (Vit. Syll. --Strab. ,
416. ) Pliny remarks of its waters, that they had
Ibu property of dying the fleeces of sheep black (2,
10:)) In the marshes formed near the junction of
tl. is river with the Cephissus grew the reeds so much
esteemed by the ancient Greeks for making pipes and
'ather wind-instruments. (Pindar, Pyth. , 12, 42. --
Cramer's Arte. Greece, vol. 2, p. 249. )--V. A river
of Cappadocia, rising near Caesarea ad Argssum, and
falling into the Euphrates near the city of Mclilene.
SchilTinger (Rcite. , p. 68) calls it the Gensin; but on
D'Anville's map it bears in the beginning of its course
:he name of Koremox, and near its mouth that of
Kirkghedid. (Mannert, Geogr. , vol. 6, pt. 2, p. 296. )
--VI. A river of Pamphvlia, rising in the range of
Mount Taurus, to the west of Homonada, and running
into the sea between Side and Coracesium. (Strabo,
867. ) It formed originally the boundary between
Patnphylia and Cilicia. (Plin , 5, 27. ) According to
Leake, there can be no doubt that the Melas is the
river now called Menavgat su, for Zosimus (5, 16)
and Mela (1, 14) agree in showing its proximity to
Side. Strabo, Mela, and the Stadiasmus, all place it
to the eastward of Side, a. id the distance of SO stadia
in the Stadiasmus between the Melas and Side is pre-
cisely that which occurs between the ruins of Side
? ? and the month oi the river of Menavgat. (Leake's
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? MEb
MLI,
Me eager ran him through the flankj fcnd killed him.
He preset ted the skin and head to Atalanta; but the
sons of fhestius, his two uncles, offended at this
preferenr. u of a woman, took the skin from her, saying
that it fell to them of right, on account of their family,
if Meleager resigned his claim to it. Meleager, in a
rage, killed them, and restored the skin to Atalanta.
Althaea, on hearing of the death of her brothers, in-
fluenced by resentment for their loss, took from its
place of concealment the billet, on which depended
the existence of Meleager, and cast it into the flames.
As it consumed, the vigour of Meleager wasted away;
and when it was reduced to ashes, his life terminated.
Repenting, when too late, of what she had done, Al-
thaea put an end to her own life. Cleopatra died of
grief; and the sisters of Meleager, who would not be
comforted in their affliction, were, by the compassion
of the gods, all but Gorgo and Delanira, changed into
birds called Meleagrides. --There was another tradi-
tion, according to which Meleager was slain by Apol-
lo, the protecting deity of the Curetes. (Pausan. , 10,
31, Z. --Keightlcy's Mythology, p. 321, seqq. )--II.
A Greek poet, a native of Gadara in Coelesyria, and
either contemporary with Antipater, or a very short
time subsequent to him. He composed several works
of a satirical character, which we find quoted under
the following titles: 1. 2v/nrootov, "The Banquet. '"--
2. AeKiBov Kal ^aKf/c oiynpiaic, "A mixture of
yolks of eggs and beans. "--3. Xupirec, " The Gra-
tes. " Jacobs, however, thinks that the whole collec-
tion of his satires may have been rather entitled Xup-
trec. (Animadv. in Anthol. , 1, 1. --Prolegom. , p.
xzxviii. )--HI. Another poet, who has left about 130
epigrams.
They are marked by purity of diction and
by feeling, but they betray, at the same time, some-
thing of that sophistic subtlety which characterized his
age. Occasionally we meet with words rather too
boldly compounded. Meleager was the first who made
? collection of epigrams, or an anthology. He entitled
it iriAavoc, " The Crown. " It contained a selection
of the best pieces of forty-six poets, arranged in al-
phabetical order according to the names of the authors.
This compilation is lost. (Schbll, Hist. Lit. Gr. t
"Jl, 4, p. 45, 55. )
Meleaqkioes, the sisters of Meleager, daughters
of CEneus and Althaia. They were so disconsolate
at the death of their brother Meleager, that they re-
fused all aliment, and were changed into birds called
Meleagrides. The youngest of these sisters, Gorgo
and Deianira, who had been married, alone escaped
this metamorphosis. {Apollod. , 1, 8. --(hid, Met. , 8,
540. )
Mei. rs (ctis), a river of Asia Minor, near Smyrna.
Some of the ancinnts supposed that Homer was born
on the banks of this river, from which circumstance
they call him Melcsigenes. They also showed a cave,
where it was said that Homer had composed his verses.
(Pausan. , 7, 5. ) Chandler informs us that he search-
ed for this cavern, and succeeded in discovering it
above the aqueduct of the Meles. It is about four
feet wide, the roof of a huge rock, cracked and slant-
ing, the sides and bottom sandy. Beyond it is a pas-
sage cut, leading into a kind of well. (Travels in Asia.
Minor, p. 91. ) According to the same traveller, the
Meles, at the present day, is shallow in summer, not
covering its rocky bed; but, winding in the deep val-
ley behind the castle of Smyrna, it murmurs among the
? ? evergreens, and recoives many rills from the slopes;
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? MELITA.
MELITA.
jelonging to Africa, from its having Punic inhabitants,
and being no farther from Africa than from Sicily.
The earlier Greek historians do not mention it, since
it was regarded as a Carthaginian island, and lay with-
out their historical limits. Diodorus Siculus is the
first that gives us any account of it. "There are,"
he says, " over against that part of Sicily which lies to
the south, three islands at a distance in the sea, each
>>f which has a town and safe ports for ships overtaken
? y tempests. The first, called Melite, is about 800
Itadia from Syracuse, and has several excellent har-
bours. The inhabitants arc very rich, inasmuch as
they exercise many trades, and, in particular, manufac-
ture cloths remarkable for their softness and fineness.
Their houses are large, and splendid! / ornamented
with projections and stucco (ytioooic. xalviovia/iaai).
The island is a colony of the Phoenicians, who, trading
to the Western Ocean, use it as a place of refuge, be-
cause it has excellent ports, and lies in the midst of
the sea. Next to this island is another named Gaulus
(Gozo), with convenient harbours, which is also a
colony of Phoenicians. " (Diod. Sic, 5, 12. ) Malta
is said to have been subsequently occupied by the
Greeks; but, however this may be, the Carthaginians
obtained possession of it B. C. 402. In the first Pu-
nic war it was plundered by the Roman consul At-
tilius. (Ornsius, 4, 8. ) In the second Punic war it
surrendered to the Romans, and was regarded hence-
forth as an appendage to the province of Sicily. Its
commerce declined under its new masters, and the isl-
and became a not unfrequent haunt of pirates. It
appears, however, that its temple of Juno was rich
enough to be an object of plunder to the rapacious
Verres when he was prator of Sicily. (Cic. in Vcrr. ,
4, 46 ) The linen cloth of Malta was considered an
article of luxury at Rome. After the division of the
Roman empire at the death of Constantino, this island
was included in the share allotted to Constantius. It
fell subsequently into the hands of the Goths, who
were expelled by Belisarius, A. D. 533. The Arabs
conquered it in 870, and though it was recovered, and
held by the Eastern empire for the space of 34 years,
it was retaken by the Arabs, and the Greek inhabitants
were exterminated. In 1120, Count Roger, the Nor-
man conqueror of Sicily, look possession of Malta and
expelled tho Arabs. Malta was thus again attached to
the island of Sicily, and it became subject to the differ-
ent dynasties which successively governed that island.
In 1516, Sicily, with the Maltese islands, passed to
". he Emperor Charles V. , as heir to the crown of Arra-
gon. Un the 4th March, 1530, Charles granted to
the Knights of St. John, who had been recently expel-
led from Rhodes by the Turks, the ownership of all the
castles, fortresses, and isles of Tripoli, Malta, and
Gozo. with complete jurisdiclicn. The sovereignty
of Malta was by this grant, in effect, surrendered to the
knights, though the form of tenure from the crown of
Sicily was maintained by tho reservation of the annual
payment of a falcon by tho same to the King of Si-
cily or his viceroy. It wts soon fortified by the knights,
sod underwent several memorable sieges. In 1798, Bo-
naparte took possession of it on his expedition to Egypt;
and in 1SOO, the French garrison was obliged by famine
to capitulate to a British force. In 1814, thepossession
of it was confirmed to Great Britain by the treaty of
Paris. --The cotton manufactories of Malta have been
celebrated for many ages, and would seem to trace
? ? their origin to the times of the Phoenicians. The soil
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? MEL
MEM
o. ' Malta's having beer, the island in question, that, had
Meleda been the one, St. Paul would not have called
it Syracuse in his way to Rhegium, "which is so far
out of the track," says a writer who advocates this
opinion, " that no example can be produced in the his-
tory of naviga'ion of any ship going so far out of her
course, except it was driven by a violent tempest. "
This argument tends principally to show that the wri-
<<r had a verv incorrect idea of the relative situations
of the places to which he refers. The ship which car-
ried St. Paul from the Adriatic to Khcgium would not
deviate from its course more than half a day's sail by
touching at Syracuse; and the delay so occasioned
would probably be but a few hours more than it would
have been had they proceeded to Syracuse in their way
to the Straits of Messina from Malta. Besides, the
master of the ship might have, and probably had, some
business at Syracuse, which had originated at Alexan-
dres, from which place it must have been originally in-
tended that the ship should commence her voyage to
Putcoli; and in this, course the calling at Syracuse
would have been the smallest deviation possible--8.
Again, supposing the ship to have come from Malta,
it must have been on account of some business, prob-
ably commercial, that they touched at Syracuse in
their way to Putcoli, as Malta is scarcely more than
3tio day and night's sail from Syracuse: whereas
there might be some reasons respecting the voyage,
had the ship come from Meleda, which is more than
tve times that distance, and probably a more oncer-
Sain navigation. --9. As regards the wind Euroclydon,
. 1 may be observed, that the word evidently implies a
southeast wind. It is composed of Ei'ymc, the south-
east wind, and /v/. tiriur, a wave, an addition highly ex-
pressive of the character and effects of this wind, but
rrobably chiefly applied to it when it became typhonic
M tempestuous. Typhon is described by Pliny (2,
IB) as pracipuo navigantium peslis, non antennas
wiodo, verum ipsa navigia contorta frangens. The
course of the wind from the southeast would impel the
ship towards the island of Crete, though not so di-
rectly but /fiat they might weather it, as they in fact
did, and got clear, though it appears they encountered
some risk of being wrecked when running under, or
to the south of, the island of Clauda or Gaudos, which
lies opposite to the port of Phcenicc, the place where
they proposed to winter. A circumstance occurs in
this part of the narrative which creates some difficulty.
They who navigated the ship were apprehensive of
falling among the Syrtes, which lay on the coast of
Africa, nearly to the southwest of the western point of
Crete. But we should consider that this danger lay
only in the fears of the mariners, who, knowing the
Syrtes to be the great terror of those seas, and prob-
ably not being >>He to ascertain from what quarter the
wind blew, neither sun nor stars having been visible
for several days, and as these violent typhonic Le-
vanters are fcpt to change their direction, might en-
tertain apprehensions that they might be cast on these
dangerous quicksands. The event, however, proved
that the place of their danger was mistaken. (Class-
ical Journal, vol. 19, p. 218, seqq. -- Hale's Anal-
ysis of Chronology, vol. 1, p. 464, seqq. , ed. 2d,
1830. ) -
Mblitene, a district of Asia Minor, in the south-
eastern part of Armenia Minor, and lying along the
right bank of the Euphrates. The soil was fertile,
? ? and yielded fruits of every kind; in this mspect dif-
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? MEM
NF. M
appointed candidate. (Vid. Marius. )--HI. L. Mem-
mius Gemellus, was tribune of the commons B. C.
M. and praetor B. C. 59, in which latter capacity he
Uad the government of Bilhynia. He was distinguish-
ed as an orator and-poet, and was the friend and patron
of Catullus and Lucretius, the latter of whom dedicated
his poem to him. Cicero describes him as a man of
rt literary acquirements, and well acquainted with
Grecian language and literature. (Brut. , 70. )
The same writer, however, represents him elsewhere
is a man of licentious habits. (/? . '/'? ad Alt. , 1, 18. )
Re was an opponent of Cesar's, and was driven into
exile by means of the latter, on the charge of bribery
in suing for the consulship, and also of extortion in the
province of Bithynia. He died in exile. (Cie , Ep.
ad Fam. , 13, I. --Manut. , ad loc. --Id. , Ep. ad Alt. ,
8, 1. --Ernesti, Ind. Hist. , s. r. )
Memnon, I. a personage frequently mentioned by
'he Greek writers. He is first spoken of in tho Odys-
sey as the son of Eos, or the morning, as a hero re-
markable for his beauty, and as the vanquisher of An-
tilochus (4, 188; 11, 521) Hesiod calls him the
King of the Ethiopians, and represents him as the son
ofTilhonus. (Theog. , 986 ) He is supposed to have
fought against the Greeks in the Trojan war, and to
have been slain by Achilles. In the "tvxooraaia, a
lost drama of . -Eschylus, the dead liody of Memnon is
carried away by his mother Eos. (Fragm. tfo. 261,
'? d. Dindorf. ) He is represented by most Greek wri-
*rs as King of the Ethiopians, but he is also said to
fcve been connected with Persia. According to Dio-
dorus (2, 22), Tithonus, the father of Memnon, govern-
ed Persia, at the time of the Trojan war, as the viceroy
of Teutamus, the Assyrian king; and Memnon erected
at Susa the palace which was afterward known by the
name of Memnonium. Diodorus also adds, that the
Ethiopians claimed Memnon as a native of their coun-
try. Pausanias combines the two accounts: he repre-
sents Memnon as king of the Ethiopians, but also says
that be came to Troy from Susa, and not from Ethio-
pia, subduing all the nations in his way. (Pausan. ,
10, 31, 6. --Id. , 1, 42, 2 ) iEschylus also, according
to Strabo, spoke of the Cissian, that is, Susian, parent-
age of Memnon (Strabo, 720): and Herodotus men-
tions the palace at Susa, called Memnonia, and also
says, that the city itself was sometimes described by
'he same name. (Herod. , 5, 53. seq. --Id. , 7, 151. )
The great majority of Greek writers agree in tracing
the origin of Memnon to Egypt or Ethiopia; and it is
not improbable that the name of Memnon was not
known in Susa till after the Persian conquest of Egypt,
and that the buildings there called Mcmnonian by the
Greeks were, in name, at least, the representative of
those in Egypt. The partial deciphering of the Egyp-
tian proper names affords us sufficient reason for be-
lieving, with Pausanias (1,42, 2), that the Memnon of
the Greeks may be identified with the Egyptian Pha-
mentoph, Phamenoth, Amenophis, or Amenolhph, of
which name the Greek one is probably only a corrup-
tion. Phamenoph is said to mean " the guardian of
the city of Ammon," or " devoted to Ammon," "be-
longing to Ammon. "--Memnon, then, must be regard-
ed as one nf the early heroes or kings of Egypt, whose
fame reached Greece in very early times. In the
eighteenth dynasty of Manetho the name of Amenophis
occurs, with this remark : "This is he who is supposed
to be the Memnon and the vocal stone. " He is Ameno-
? ? phis II. , and the son of Thutmosis, who is said to have
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