Part 7

=Mar´athon.= A village of Attica, celebrated for the victory which the Athenians and Platæans, under the command of Miltiades, gained over the Persian army, 490 B.C.

=Marcel´lus, Mar´cus Clau´dius.= A famous Roman general. He was the first Roman who obtained some advantage over Hannibal. He conquered Syracuse, with the spoils from which he adorned Rome. He was killed in battle in his fifth consulship.

=Marcel´lus.= A Roman who distinguished himself in the civil wars of Cæsar and Pompey by his firm attachment to the latter. He was banished by Cæsar, but was afterwards recalled at the request of the Senate. There were some other Romans of the same name, of minor repute.

=Mardo´nius.= A general in the army of Xerxes who was defeated in the battle of Platæa, where he was slain, B.C. 479.

=Ma´rius, C.= A celebrated Roman who signalized himself under Scipio at the siege of Numantia. He was appointed to finish the war against Jugurtha, who was defeated and betrayed into the hands of the Romans. After this new honors awaited Marius. He was elected consul, and was sent against the Teutones. The war was prolonged, and Marius was a third and fourth time invested with the consulship. At length two engagements were fought, and the Teutones were defeated, a vast number of them being left dead on the battlefields. After many vicissitudes Marius died, B.C. 86, directly after he had been honored with the consulship for the seventh time. There were a number of others of the same name, but of minor note.

=Mars=, the god of war, was the son of Jupiter and Juno, or of Juno alone, according to Ovid. The loves of Mars and Venus are greatly celebrated. On one occasion, while in each other's company, Vulcan spread a net round them, from which they could not escape without assistance. They were thus exposed to the ridicule of the gods till Neptune induced Vulcan to set them at liberty. During the Trojan war Mars interested himself on the side of the Trojans, and defended the favorites of Venus with great determination.

=Mar´syas.= A celebrated piper of Celæne in Phrygia. He challenged Apollo to a trial of skill in music, which challenge was accepted, the Muses being appointed umpires. The palm of victory was awarded to Apollo, who tied his antagonist to a tree and flayed him.

=Martia´lis, Mar´cus Vale´rius.= A native of Spain who came to Rome when he was about twenty years old, where he became noticeable by his poetical genius. Martial wrote fourteen books of epigrams, and died in the seventy-fifth year of his age.

=Masinis´sa.= A king of a small part of Africa, who at first assisted the Carthaginians in their wars against Rome, but who subsequently became an ally of the Romans. After his defeat of Syphax he married Sophonisba, the wife of Syphax, which gave offense to the Roman general, Scipio, on which Masinissa induced Sophonisba to end her life by poison. In the battle of Zama, Masinissa greatly contributed to the defeat of Hannibal. He died in his ninety-seventh year, 149 years before the Christian era.

=Mauso´lus.= A king of Caria. His wife Artemisia was very disconsolate at his death, and erected one of the grandest monuments of antiquity to perpetuate his memory. This famous building, which was deemed to be one of the seven wonders of the world, was called "Mausoleum," which name has been since applied to other grand sepulchral monuments.

=Maximi´nus, Ca´ius Ju´lius Ve´rus=, was the son of a peasant of Thrace. He entered the Roman armies, where he gradually rose till he was proclaimed emperor A.D. 235. He ruled with great cruelty, and was eventually killed by his own soldiers. He was of immense size and strength, and was able to break the hardest stones between his fingers.

=Mede´a.= A celebrated magician, daughter of Ætes, king of Colchis, and niece of Circe. When Jason came to Colchis in quest of the Golden Fleece, Medea fell in love with him, and they exchanged oaths of fidelity, and when he had overcome all the difficulties which he had to encounter, Medea embarked with him for Greece. She lived in Corinth with her husband Jason for ten years, with much conjugal happiness, when he became enamored with Glauce, daughter of Creon, king of Corinth. To avenge herself on Jason she caused the destruction of Glauce, and killed her two children in his presence.

=Medu´sa.= One of the three Gorgons, daughter of Phorcys and Ceto. She was the only one of the Gorgons subject to mortality. She was celebrated for her personal charms and the beauty of her hair, which Minerva changed into serpents. According to Apollodorus and others, the Gorgons were born with snakes on their heads instead of hair, and with yellow wings and brazen hands. Perseus rendered himself famous by his conquest of Medusa. He cut off her head and placed it on the ægis of Minerva. The head had the power of changing those who looked at it into stone.

=Melea´ger.= A celebrated hero of antiquity, who signalized himself in the Argonautic expedition, and especially by killing the Calydonian boar, a famous event in mythological history.

=Melpom´ene.= One of the Muses, daughter of Jupiter and Mnemosyne. She presided over tragedy. She is generally represented as a young woman wearing a buskin and holding a dagger in her hand.

=Mem´non.= A king of Ethiopia, son of Tithonus and Aurora. He came with ten thousand men to assist Priam in the Trojan war, where he behaved with great courage, and killed Antilochus, Nestor's son, on which Nestor challenged Memnon to fight, but he refused on account of the great age of the challenger; but he fought Achilles, who killed him. A statue was erected in his honor, which had the property of uttering a melodious sound every day at sunrise.

=Menan´der.= A celebrated comic poet of Athens, educated under Theophrastus. He was universally esteemed by the Greeks. He wrote 108 comedies, but of which only a few fragments remain.

=Menela´us.= A king of Sparta, brother to Agamemnon. He married Helen, the most beautiful woman of her time. Paris, having arrived in Sparta in the absence of Menelaus, persuaded her to elope with him, which was the cause of the Trojan war. In the tenth year of the war Helen, it is said, obtained the forgiveness of Menelaus, with whom she returned to Sparta, where, shortly after his return, he died.

=Mene´nius Agrippa.= A celebrated Roman who appeased the Roman populace in the infancy of the consular government by repeating to them the well-known fable of the belly and limbs. He lived B.C. 495.

=Menip´pus.= A Cynic philosopher of Phoenicia. He was originally a slave, and, obtaining his liberty, became notorious as a usurer. He wrote thirteen books of satires.

=Men´tor.= A faithful friend of Ulysses, and guide and instructor of his son Telemachus. The term Mentor has become proverbial as applied to any one who is an educator of youth.

=Mercu´rius.= A celebrated god of antiquity, called Hermes by the Greeks. He was the messenger of the gods, and conducted the souls of the dead into the infernal regions. He presided over orators, merchants, and was also the god of thieves. The invention of the lyre is ascribed to him. This he gave to Apollo, and received in exchange the Caduceus, which the god of poetry used to drive the flocks of King Admetus.

=Mer´ope.= One of the Atlantides. She married Sisyphus, son of Æolus, and was changed into a constellation.

=Me´rops.= 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.

=Messali´na, Vale´ria=, was notorious for her vices. She married the emperor Claudius, who, wearied with her misconduct, cited her to appear before him and reply to the accusations which were brought against her, on which she attempted to destroy herself, but failing to do so, was slain by one of the tribunes who had been sent to summon her.

=Metel´li.= The surname of the family of the Cæcilii at Rome, the most noted of whom are--a general who defeated the Achæans, took Thebes, and invaded Macedonia; Quintus Cæcilius, rendered famous by his successes against Jugurtha, the king of Numidia; Q. Cæcilius Celer, who distinguished himself against Catiline. He died fifty-seven years B.C., greatly lamented by Cicero, who was one of his warmest friends; L. Cæcilius, a tribune in the civil wars of Cæsar and Pompey, who favored the cause of Pompey; Q. Caæilius, a warlike general who conquered Crete and Macedonia; Metellus Cimber, one of the conspirators against Cæsar. He gave the signal to attack and murder the dictator.

=Micip´sa.= A king of Numidia, son of Masinissa, who, at his death, B.C. 119, left his kingdom between his sons Adherbal and Hiempsal, and his nephew Jugurtha.

=Mi´das.= A king of Phrygia, son of Gordius or Gorgias. According to some traditions, in the early part of his life he found a treasure, to which he owed his greatness and opulence. He showed hospitality to Silenus, in return for which Bacchus permitted him to choose whatever recompense he pleased. He demanded of the god that whatever he touched might be turned into gold. His wish was granted, but when the very food which he attempted to eat became gold in his mouth he prayed Bacchus to revoke the favor, and he was ordered to wash himself in the river Pactolus, the sands of which were turned into gold by the touch of Midas. Afterwards, in consequence of maintaining that Pan was superior to Apollo in singing and playing the flute, he had his ears changed into those of an ass by the god.

=Mi´lo.= A celebrated athlete of Crotona in Italy. He is said to have carried on his shoulders a bullock for a considerable distance, and to have killed it with a blow from his fist, and eaten it in one day. In his old age he attempted to pull up a tree by the roots, which, when half-cleft, reunited, and his hands remaining imprisoned in the tree, he was eaten by wild beasts about 500 years before the Christian era.

=Milti´ades=, son of Simon, was sent by the Athenians to take possession of the Chersonesus. On his arrival he seized some of the principal inhabitants of the country, made himself absolute in Chersonese, and married the daughter of Olorus, king of the Thracians. He was present at the celebrated battle of Marathon, where the command was ceded to him, owing to his superior abilities. He obtained the victory, but an olive crown, which he demanded from his fellow-citizens as a reward for his valor, was refused. Afterwards he was intrusted with a fleet of seventy ships, with which to punish some islands which had revolted to the Persians. At first he was successful, but afterwards fortune frowned on him. He was accused of treason and condemned to death, but his sentence was, owing to his great services, commuted. He died in prison of some wounds he had received, which became incurable.

=Miner´va=, the goddess of wisdom, war, and all the liberal arts, sprang, full-grown and armed, from the head of Jupiter, and was immediately admitted to the assembly of the gods, and became one of the most faithful counselors of her father. Her power in heaven was great: she could hurl the thunders of Jupiter, prolong the life of men, and bestow the gift of prophecy. She was known amongst the ancients by many names. She was called Athena, Pallas, Parthenos, Tritonia (because she was worshiped near the lake Tritonis) and Hippia (because she first taught mankind how to manage the horse), Sais (because she was worshipped at Sais), and some other names. She is usually represented with a helmet on her head with a large plume on it, in one hand holding a spear, and in the other a shield with the head of Medusa on it. Temples were erected for her worship in different places, one of the most renowned of which was the Parthenon at Athens. From this building a large collection of ancient sculpture was brought to the British Museum by Lord Elgin more than sixty years ago, which is known as the "Elgin Marbles."

=Mi´nos.= A king of Crete, son of Jupiter and Europa, who gave laws to his subjects, B.C. 1406, which remained in full force in the age of Plato.

=Mi´nos the Second= was a son of Lycastes, the son of Minos the first, and king of Crete. He married Pasiphae, the daughter of Sol and Perseis.

=Minotau´rus.= A celebrated monster, half a man and half a bull, for which a number of young Athenian men and maidens were yearly exacted to be devoured. The Minotaur was confined in a famous labyrinth, where at length it was slain by Theseus, who was guided out of the labyrinth by a clue of thread given to him by Ariadne, daughter of King Minos.

=Mithrida´tes First=, king of Pontus. He was tributary to the crown of Persia: his attempts to make himself independent of that fealty proved fruitless, being defeated in a battle which he had provoked, and having to sue for peace.

=Mithrida´tes=, surnamed "Eupator" and "The Great," succeeded to the throne of Pontus when eleven years of age. The beginning of his reign was marked by ambition and cruelty. At an early age he inured himself to hardships by devoting himself to manly exercises, and sleeping in the open air on the bare earth. He was constantly engaged in warfare against the Romans, and his contests with them are known as the Mithridatic wars. His hatred of the Romans was so great that, to destroy their power, he ordered all of them that were in his dominions to be massacred, and in one night 150,000, according to Plutarch, or 80,000, according to another authority, were slaughtered. This cruel act called for revenge, and great armies were sent against him. After varied fortunes Mithridates had to succumb to Pompey, and, worn out with misfortune, attempted to poison himself, but unsuccessfully, as the numerous antidotes to poison which in early life he had taken strengthened his constitution to resist the effect. He then ordered one of his soldiers to give him the fatal blow with a sword, which was done. He died about sixty-three years before the Christian era, in his seventy-second year. He is said to have been the most formidable opponent the Romans ever had, and Cicero estimates him as the greatest monarch that ever sat upon a throne. It is recorded of him that he conquered twenty-four nations, whose different languages he knew and spoke fluently. There were a number of persons of the same name, but of inferior note.

=Mnemos´yne.= A daughter of Coelus and Terra, mother of the nine Muses. Jupiter assumed the form of a shepherd in order to enjoy her company.

=Mo´mus=, the god of mirth amongst the ancients, according to Hesiod, was the son of Nox. He amused himself by satirizing the gods by turning into ridicule whatever they did.

=Mor´pheus.= A minister of the god Somnus, who imitated very naturally the gestures, words, and manners of mankind. He is sometimes called the god of sleep. He is generally represented as a sleeping child, of great corpulence, with wings.

=Mos´chus.= A Greek Bucolic poet in the age of Ptolemy Philadelphus. His eclogues are characterized by sweetness and elegance, and are said to be equal in merit to the productions of Theocritus.

=Mure´na.= A celebrated Roman who invaded the dominions of Mithridates, at first with success, but afterwards he met with defeat. He was honored with a triumph on his return to Rome.

=Mu´sæ.= The Muses, certain goddesses who presided over poetry, music, dancing, and all the liberal arts. They were daughters of Jupiter and Mnemosyne, and were nine in number, Clio, Euterpe, Thalia, Melpomene, Terpsichore, Erato, Polyhymnia, Calliope, and Urania.

=Myce´næ.= A town of Argolis, said to have been built by Perseus. It received its name from Mycene, a nymph of Laconia. It was taken and destroyed by the Argives.

=Nai´ades.= Inferior deities who presided over rivers, springs, wells, and fountains. The Naiads generally inhabited the country, and resorted to the woods and meadows near the stream over which they presided. They are represented as young and beautiful girls leaning on an urn, from which flows a stream of water. Ægle was the fairest of them, according to Virgil. The word Naiad has become Anglicized, and is in frequent use, especially by the poets.

=Narcis´sus=, a beautiful youth, son of Cephisus and the nymph Liriope, was born at Thespis in Boeotia. He saw his image reflected in a fountain and became in love with it, thinking it to be the nymph of the place. His fruitless attempts to reach this beautiful object so provoked him, that he killed himself. His blood was changed into a flower which still bears his name.

=Nemæ´a.= A town of Argolis, with a wood where Hercules in the sixteenth year of his age killed the celebrated Nemæan lion. It was the first of the labors of Hercules to destroy the monster, and when he found that his arrows and clubs were useless, against an animal whose skin was impenetrable, he seized it in his arms and strangled it.

=Nem´esis.= One of the infernal deities, daughter of Nox. She was the goddess of vengeance. She is made one of the Parcæ by some mythologists, and is represented with a helm and a wheel. The term is sometimes used to signify vengeance itself.

=Neoptol´emus.= A king of Epirus, son of Achilles and Deidamia, called also Pyrrhus. He greatly signalized himself during the siege of Troy, and he was the first who entered the wooden horse. He was inferior to none of the Grecian warriors in valor. Ulysses and Nestor alone were his superiors in eloquence and wisdom.

=Ne´pos, Corne´lius.= A celebrated historian in the reign of Augustus, and, like the rest of his literary contemporaries, he enjoyed the patronage and obtained the favor of the emperor. He was the intimate friend of Cicero and Atticus, and recommended himself to notice by delicacy of sentiment and a lively disposition. Of all his valuable works the only one extant is his lives of illustrious Greek and Roman generals.

=Neptu´nus.= One of the gods, son of Saturn and Ops, and brother to Jupiter and Pluto. He was devoured by his father as soon as he was born, and restored to life again by a potion given to Saturn, by Metis, the first wife of Jupiter. Neptune shared with his brothers the empire of Saturn, and received as his portion the kingdom of the sea. He did not think this equivalent to the empire of heaven and earth, which Jupiter had claimed, therefore he conspired to dethrone him. The conspiracy was discovered, and Jupiter condemned Neptune to build the walls of Troy. He married Amphitrite, who thus broke a vow she had made of perpetual celibacy.

=Nere´ides.= Nymphs of the sea, daughters of Nereus and Doris. According to most of the mythologists, they were fifty in number. They are represented as young and handsome girls, sitting on dolphins and armed with tridents.

=Ne´ro, Clau´dius Domit´ius Cæ´sar.= A celebrated Roman emperor, son of Caius Domitius Ahenobarbus and Agrippina, the daughter of Germanicus. His name is the synonym for cruelty and vice. In the night it was his wont to sally out from his palace to visit the meanest taverns and the different scenes of depravity that were to be found. He appeared on the stage, sometimes representing the meanest characters. He resolved to imitate the burning of Troy, and caused Rome to be set on fire in different places, the flames being unextinguished for nine days, and he enjoyed the terrible scene. During the conflagration he placed himself on the top of a tower and sang, accompanying himself on a lyre, of the destruction of Troy. Many conspiracies were formed against him, the most dangerous of which he was saved from by the confession of a slave. He killed himself A.D. 68, in the thirty-second year of his age, after a reign of thirteen years and eight months. Wretch that he was, it is said that he had some few to mourn for him, and Suetonius records that some unseen hand had placed flowers on his tomb.

=Ner´va, M. Cocce´ius.= A Roman emperor after the death of Domitian A.D. 96. He rendered himself popular by his mildness and generosity. In his civil character he set an example of good manners and sobriety. He made an oath that no senator should suffer death during his reign, which he carried out by pardoning two members of the Senate who had conspired against his life. He died in his seventy-second year, A.D. 98, and was succeeded by his son Trajan.

=Nes´sus.= A celebrated Centaur killed by Hercules for insulting Dejanira.

=Nes´tor.= A son of Neleus and Chloris, nephew to Pelias, and grandson to Neptune. He was present at the bloody battle between the Lapithæ and the Centaurs, which took place at the nuptials of Pirithous. As king of Pylos he led his soldiers to the Trojan war, where he distinguished himself among the Grecian chieftains by eloquence, wisdom, and prudence. Homer makes his character as the most perfect of all his heroes. After the Trojan war Nestor retired to Greece, where he lived during his declining years in peace and tranquillity. The manner and time of his death are unknown.

=Ni´nus.= A son of Belus. He built Nineveh and founded the Assyrian monarchy, of which he was the first sovereign, B.C. 2059. He married Semiramis, whose husband had destroyed himself through fear of Ninus. He reigned fifty-two years.

=Ni´obe.= A daughter of Tantalus, king of Lydia, and Euryanassa, or Dione. She married Amphion, and, according to Hesiod, they had ten sons and ten daughters. All the sons of Niobe expired by the darts of Apollo, and all the daughters, except Chloris, were destroyed by Diana. Niobe, overwhelmed with grief, was changed into a stone.

=Nito´cris.= A celebrated queen of Babylon, who built a bridge across the Euphrates in the middle of that city, and dug a number of reservoirs for the superfluous water of the river.

=Nom´ades.= A name given to people who had no fixed habitation, and who continually changed their place of residence in quest of fresh pastures for the cattle they tended. There were Nomades in Scythia, India, Arabia, etc. The word is in constant use as Anglicized--Nomad--meaning any one who leads a wandering and unsettled life.

=Nox.= One of the most ancient deities among the heathens, daughter of Chaos. She gave birth to the Day and the Light, and was mother of the Parcæ, Hesperides, Dreams, Death, etc.

=Nu´ma Pompil´ius.= A celebrated philosopher of Cures. He married Tatia, daughter of Tatius, king of the Sabines, and at her death he retired into the country to devote himself to literary pursuits. At the death of Romulus the Romans fixed on him to be their new king. Numa at first refused the offer of the crown, but at length was prevailed on to accept it. He endeavored to inculcate into the minds of his subjects a reverence for the deity, and he did all he could to heal their dissensions. He encouraged the report of his visits to the nymph Egeria, and made use of her name to give sanction to the laws which he had made. He dedicated a temple to Janus, which, during his whole reign, remained closed as a mark of peace and tranquillity at Rome. Numa died after a reign of forty-three years (B.C. 672), during which he had given encouragement to the useful arts, and had cultivated peace.

=Nym´phæ.= Certain female deities among the ancients. They were generally divided into two classes--nymphs of the land and nymphs of the sea. Of the former some presided over woods, and were called Dryades and Hamadryades. Of the sea nymphs some were called Oceanides, Nereides, Naiades, etc.

=Ocean´ides and Oceanit´ides.= Sea nymphs, daughters of Oceanus, from whom they received their name. According to Apollodorus they were 3000 in number, whilst Hesiod speaks of them as consisting of forty-one.

=Oce´anus.= A powerful deity of the sea, son of Coelus and Terra. He married Tethys, the Oceanides being their children.