The
inscription
on her coins is and granddaughter of Triopas (whence she is
VALERIA MESSALINA.
VALERIA MESSALINA.
William Smith - 1844 - Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities - b
) dupe ; the most illustrious families of Rome were
13. M. VALERICS Messalla, great-grandson polluted by her favour, or sacrificed to her cupidity
of M. Valerius Messalla Corvinus (No. 8), was or hate, and the absence of virtue was not con-
Nero's colleague in the consulship A. D. 58. His cealed by a lingering sense of shame or even by a
immediate predecessors had squandered the wealth specious veil of decorum. Among her most eini-
of his ancestors ; and Messalla, who had been con- nent victims were the two Julias, one the daughter
tent with honourable poverty, received from the of Germanicus (JULIA, No. 8], the other the
treasury an allowance to enable him to meet the daughter of Drusus, the son of Tiberius (JULIA,
expences of the consulship. (Tac. Ann. xiii. 34 ; No. 9), whom she offered up, the former to her
comp. Suet. Ner. 10. )
jealousy, the latter to her pride ; C. Appilis
14. L. VIPSTANUS MESSALLA, was legionary Silanus, who had rejected ber advances and
tribune in Vespasian's army, A. D. 70. He rescued spurned her favourite Narcissus ; Justus Ci-
the legatus Aponius Saturninus from the fury of tonius, whosc impeachment of herself she anti-
the soldiers who suspected him of corresponding cipated by accusing him (CATONIUS JUSTUS) ;
with the Vitellian party. Messalla was brother of M. Vinicius, who had married a daughter of
Aquilius Regulus, the notorious delator in Domi- Germanicus [JULIA, No. 8], and whose illus-
tin's reign (Plin. Ep. i. 5). He is one of Tacitus' trious birth and affinity to Claudius awakened her
authorities for the history of the civil wars after fears ; and Valerius Asiaticus, whose mistress
Galba's death, and a principal interlocutor in the Poppaea she envied, and whose estates she coveted.
dialogue De Oratoribus, ascribed to Tacitus. (Tac. The conspiracy of Annius Vinicianus and Camillus
Hist. iii. 9, 11, 18, 25, 28, iv. 42, Dialog. de Scribonianus in A. D. 42, afforded Messallina the
Orat. 15—25. )
(W. B. D. ] means of satiating her thirst for gold, vengeance,
MESSALLA, SI'LIUS, was consul suffectus and intrigue. Claudius was timid, and timidity
from the 1st of May, a. D. 193, and was the person made him cruel. Slaves were encouraged to in-
who formally announced to the senate the deposi- form against their masters; members of the noblest
tion of Didius Julianus and the elevation of Sep houses were subjected to the ignominy of torture
timius Severus. He is apparently the Messalla who and a public execution ; their heads were exposed
stands in the Fasti as consul for a. D. 214, and who in the forum ; their bodies were Aung down the
subsequently (A. D. 218) fell a sacrifice to the steps of the Capitol ; the prisons were filled with
jealous tyranny of Elagabalus. (Dion Cass. lxxiii
. a crowd of both sexes ; even strangers were not
17, lxxix. 5. )
(W. R. ) secure from her suspicions or solicitations; and the
MESSALLI'NA STATI'LIA, granddaughter only refuge from her love or hate was the surren-
of T. Statilius Taurus, cos. A. D. 11, was the third der of an estate or a province, an office or a purse,
wife of the emperor Nero, who married her in A. D. to herself or her satellites. The rights of citizen-
66. She had previously espoused Atticus Vestinus, ship were sold by Messallina and the freedmen
cos, in that year, whom Nero put to death without with shameless indifference to any purchaser, and
accusation or trial, merely that he might marry it was currently said that the Roman civitas might
Messallina. After Nero's death Otho, bad he been be purchased for two cracked drinking cups. Nor
successful against Vitellius, purposed to have mar- was the ambition of Messallina inferior to her other
ried her, and in the letters he sent to his friends passions. She disposed of legions and provinces
before he destroyed himself, were some addressed without consulting either Claudius or the senate ;
to Messallina. (Tac. Ann. xv. 68 ; Suet. Ner. 35, she corrupted or intimidated the judicial tribunals;
Oth, 10. ) There are only Greek coins of this her creatures filled the lowest as well as the highest
empresa.
(W. B. D. ) public offices; and their incompetency for the posts
MESSALLI'NA, VALEYRIA, daughter of M. they had bought led in a. D. 43 to a scarcity and
Valerius Messalla Barbatus and of Domitia Lepida, tumult. The charms, the arts, or the threats of
was the third wife of the emperor Claudius I. She Messallina were so potent with the stupid Claudius
married Claudius, to whom she was previously re- that he thought her worthy of the honours which
lated, before his accession to the empire. Her Livia, the wife of Augustus, had enjoyed ; he
character is drawn in the darkest colours by the alone was ignorant of her infidelities, and some-
almost contemporary pencils of Tacitus and the times even the unconscious minister of her plea-
elder Pliny, by the satirist Juvenal, who makes sures. A: his triumph for the campaign in Britain
ber the exemplar of female profligacy, and by the (A. D. 44), Messallina followed his chariot in a car-
historian Dion Cassius, who wrote long after any pentum or covered carriage (comp. Dion Cass. lx.
motive remained for exaggerating her crimes. We 33 ; Tac. Ann. xii. 42 ; Suet. Cluud. 17)-a pri-
must accept their evidence ; but we may remember vilege requiring a special grant from the senate.
that in the reign of Nero even Messallina's vices The adulteress received the title of Augusta and
may have received a deeper tinge from malignity the right of precedence-jus consessus—at all as-
and fear ; that it was the interest of Agrippina semblies ; her lover, Sabinus, once praefect of
[AGRIPPINA, No. 2], her successor in the imperial Gaul, but for his crimes degraded to a gladiator,
bed, to blacken her reputation, and that the fears was, at her request, reprieved from death in the
of her confederates may have led them to ascribe arena ; and the emperor caused a serious riot at
their common guilt to their victim alone. That the Rome by withholding the popular pantomime
reign of Claudius owed some of its worst features Mnester from the stage while Messallina detained
to the influence of his wives and freedmen is be- him in the palace. Messallina was safe so long as
yond doubt ; and it is equally certain that Messal- the freedmen felt themselves secure ; but when her
lina was faithless as a wife, and implacable where malice or her rashness endangered her accomplices,
her fears were aroused, or her passions or avarice her doom was inevitable. She had procured the
were to be gratified. The freedmen of Claudius, | death of Polybius, and Narcissus perceived the
especially Polybius and Narcissus, were her confe- frail tenure of his own station and life. The in-
;
## p. 1054 (#1070) ##########################################
1054
MESSAPUS.
METAGENES.
bine folly of Messallina, in A. D. 48, furnished the was invulnerable, and a fainous tamer of horses.
means of her own destruction. Hitherto she had (Virg. Aen. vii. 691, &c. , with the note of Ser-
been content with the usual excesses of a profligate vius. )
(L. S. )
age, with the secrecy of the palace, or the freedom MESSE'NE (Meootu), a daughter of Triopis,
of the brothel. But in a. D. 47 she had conceived and wife of Polycaon, whom she induced to taku
a violent passion for a handsome Roman youth, C. possession of the country which was called after
Silius. She compelled him to divorce his wife her, Messenia. She is also said to have introduced
Junia Silana, and in return discarded her favourite there the worship of Zeus and the mysteries of the
Mnester. In 48, her passion broke through the great goddess of Eleusis. In the town of Mese
last restraints of decency and prudence, and, during sene she was honoured with a temple and heroic
the absence of Claudius at Ostia, she publicly mar- worship. (Paus. iv. I. SS 2, &c. , 3. $ 6, 27. $ 4,
ried Silius with all the rites of a legal connubium. 31. $ 9. )
L. S. ]
Messallina had wrought upon the fears of Claudius C. MESSIUS, was tribune of the plebs in B. C.
for the destruction of others ; those fears were now 50, when he brought in a bill for Cicero's recall
turned against herself. Narcissus persuaded the from exile. (Cic. Post. Red. in Scm. 8. ) In the
feeble emperor that Silius and Messallina would not same year the Messian law, by the same tribune,
have dared such an outrage had they not deter- assigned extraordinary powers to Cn. Pompey (id.
mined also to deprive him of empire and life. ad Att. iv. I. ) Cicero defended Messius when he
Claudius wavered long, and at length Narcissis was recalled from a legatio, and attacked by the
himself issued Messallina's death-warrant, which Caesarian party (id. ad Att. iv. 15, viï. 11). Mes-
he committed to his freedman Euodus, and to a sius afterwards appears as an adherent of Caesar's,
tribune of the guards. Without transcribing Ta- whose troops he introduced into Acilla, a town in
citus it is impossible to describe worthily the irre- Africa. (Caes. B. A. 33. ) Messius was aedile,
solution of the emperor, the trepidation of the but in what year is unknown. (W. B. D. )
freedmen, the maternal love of Domitia Lepida, ME'SSIUS MAXIMUS. [MAXIMUS. )
and the helpless agony of Messallina. She perished MESSIUS, VE'CTIUS, a Volscian, who, in
by the tribune's hand in the gardens of Lucullus B. C. 431, distinguished himself in battle against
a portion of the demesnes of her victim Valerius the Romans. (Liv. iv. 28, 29. ) [W. B. D. ]
Asiaticus. Her name, titles, and statues were re- MESTOR (Mńotwp), the name of four mythical
moved from the palace and the public buildings of personages, of whom nothing of interest is related.
Rome by a decree of the senate. She left two (Apollod. ii. 4. § 5, iř. 12. & 5; Hom. ll. xxiv,
children by Claudius, Britannicus and Octavia. 257. )
(L. S. )
There are Greek and colonial but no Latin coins of MESTKA (Mhotpa), a daughter of Erysichthon,
this empress.
The inscription on her coins is and granddaughter of Triopas (whence she is
VALERIA MESSALINA. VALERIA MESSALINA AUG. I called Triopeïs, Ov. Met. viii. 872). She was sold
(Tac. Ann. xi. 1, 2, 12, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, | by her hungry father, that he might obtain the
33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38; Dion Cass. lx. 14, 15, 16, means of satisfying his hunger. In order to escape
17, 18, 27, 28, 29, 31 ; Juv. Sat. vi. 115--135, from slavery, she prayed to Poseidon, who loved
x. 333-336, xiv. 331 ; Suet. Claud. 17, 26, 27, her, and conferred on her the power of metamor-
29, 36, 37, 39, Ner. 6, Vitell. 2 ; Vict. Caes, iv ; phosing herself whenever she was sold, and of thus
Plin. H. N. x. 63 ; Sen. Mort. Claud. ; Joseph. each time returning to her father. (Tzetz. ad Lyc.
Antiq. xx. 8. § 1, Bell. ii. 12. $ 8. ) (W. B. D. ] 1393 ; Ov. Met. viii. 847, &c. ; Anton. Lib. 17,
MESSALLI'NUS AURELIUS COTTA. who calls her Hypermestra. )
[L. S. )
[Cotta, No. 12. ]
META (Mýta), a daughter of Hoples, and first
MESSALLI'NUS, M. VALE'RIUS CATUL wife of Aegeus. (Apollod. iii. 15. § 6. ) In other
LUS, was governor of the Libyan Pentapolis in traditions she was called Melite. (Schol
. ad Ex-
the reigns of Vespasian and Titus, where he treated rip. Med. 668. )
(L. S. ]
the Jewish provincials with extreme cruelty, and MEʻTABUŚ (Métabos), a son of Sisyphus, from
by a fictitious plot involved in a charge of perduel whom the town of Metapontum, in Southern Italy,
lion the principal Jews residing at Alexandria and was believed to have derived its name. (Strab
Rome, and among them the historian Josephus. vi. p. 265; Serv. ad Aen. xi. 540 ; Steph. Byz.
Messallinus was recalled from his province, but s. v. MetanóUTiOv. )
[L. S. )
eluded the punishment due to his crimes, probably METACLEIDÉS (Merakheidns), a peripatetic
through Domitian's interest with his father and philosopher, who wrote on Homer, mentioned by
brother. Under Domitian Messallinus distinguished Tatianus and Suidas (s. v. ). There is some dispute
himself as a delator. Josephus represents him as as to whether the name should be Metacleides or
dying in extreme torments aggravated by an evil Megacleides. (Fabric. Bith Gracc. vol. i. pp. 321,
conscience. Messallinus was probably consul in 517. )
(C. P. M. ]
A. D. 73. (Fasti ; Joseph. B. J. vii, 11. 83; Plin. META'GENES (Merayévns), an Athenian
Ep. iv. 22 ; Juv. Sat. iv. 113–122. ) [W. B. D. ) comic poet of the Old Comedy, contemporary with
MESSAPEUS (Meccaneus), a surname of Zeus, Aristophanes, Phrynichus, and Plato. (Schol. in
under which he had a sanctuary between Amyclae Aristoph. Av. 1297. ) Suidas gives the following
and mount Taygetus. It was said to have been titles of his plays: -- Aŭpan Mappákubos, Ooupla
derived from a priest of the name of Messapeus. | πέρσαι, Φιλοθύτης, “Ομηρος η 'Ασκηται, 8ο1ne of
(Paus. iii. 20. § 3. )
(L. S. ] which appear to be corrupt. (Meineke, Trag.
MESSA'PUS (Mécranos). 1. A Boeotian, Com. Graec. vol. i. pp. 218–221, vol. ii. pp.
from whom Mount Messapion, on the coast of 751--760 ; Bergk, Com. Atl. Ant. Reliq. p. 421 ;
Boeotia, and Messapia (also called lapygia), in Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. ii. p. 470. ) (P. S. ]
southern Italy, were believed to have derived their META'GENES, artists. 1. The son of Cher-
names. (Strab. ix. p. 405. )
siphron, and one of the architects of the temple of
2. A son of Neptune and king of Etruria, who | Artemis at Ephesus. [CHBRSIPARON. ]
## p. 1055 (#1071) ##########################################
METAPHRASTES.
1055
METELLUS.
&
14
ana
Di
:)
1r
2. An Athenian architect in the time of Peri- | Liber dictus Paraclitus seu illustrium Sanctorum
cles, was engaged with Cornebus and Icting and Vitae, desumptae er Simeone Metaphraste, Venice,
Xenocles in the erection of the great temple at 1541, 4to.
Eleusis. (Plut. Peric. 13. )
(P. S. ] 2. Annales, beginning with the emperor Leo
METANEIRA (Metávespa), the wife of Celeus, Armenus (A. D. 813–820), and finishing with
and mother of Triptolemus, received Demeter on Romanus, the son of Constantine Porphymgenitus,
her arrival in Attica. (Hom. Hynn, in Cer. 161; who reigned from 959--963. It is evident that
Apollod. i. 5. § 1. ) Pausanias (i. 39. § 1) calls the Metaphrastes who was ambassador in 902
her Meganaera
(L. S. ) cannot possibly be the author of a work that treats
METAPHRA'STES, SY'MEON (Eupewe d on matters which took place 60 years afterwards :
Merampdorns), a celebrated Byzantine writer, thence some believe that the latter part of the
lived in the ninth and tenth centuries. He was Annales was written by another Metaphrastes,
descended from a noble family of great distinction while Baronius thinks that the author of the whole
in Constantinople, and, owing to his birth, his of that work lived in the 12th century. The
talents, and his great learning, he wns raised to Annales were published with a Latin version by
the highest dignities in the state ; and we find that Combéfis in list. Byzant. Script. post Theophanem,
;
he successively held the offices of proto-secretarius, of which the edition by Immanuel Bekker, Bonn,
logotheta dromi, and perhaps magnus logotheta, 1838, 8vo. , is a revised reprint. The Annales are
and at least that of magister, whose office re- a valuable source of Byzantine history.
sembled much that of our president of the privy 3. Annales ab Orbe Condito, said to be extant in
council. The title of Patricius was likewise con- / MS.
13. M. VALERICS Messalla, great-grandson polluted by her favour, or sacrificed to her cupidity
of M. Valerius Messalla Corvinus (No. 8), was or hate, and the absence of virtue was not con-
Nero's colleague in the consulship A. D. 58. His cealed by a lingering sense of shame or even by a
immediate predecessors had squandered the wealth specious veil of decorum. Among her most eini-
of his ancestors ; and Messalla, who had been con- nent victims were the two Julias, one the daughter
tent with honourable poverty, received from the of Germanicus (JULIA, No. 8], the other the
treasury an allowance to enable him to meet the daughter of Drusus, the son of Tiberius (JULIA,
expences of the consulship. (Tac. Ann. xiii. 34 ; No. 9), whom she offered up, the former to her
comp. Suet. Ner. 10. )
jealousy, the latter to her pride ; C. Appilis
14. L. VIPSTANUS MESSALLA, was legionary Silanus, who had rejected ber advances and
tribune in Vespasian's army, A. D. 70. He rescued spurned her favourite Narcissus ; Justus Ci-
the legatus Aponius Saturninus from the fury of tonius, whosc impeachment of herself she anti-
the soldiers who suspected him of corresponding cipated by accusing him (CATONIUS JUSTUS) ;
with the Vitellian party. Messalla was brother of M. Vinicius, who had married a daughter of
Aquilius Regulus, the notorious delator in Domi- Germanicus [JULIA, No. 8], and whose illus-
tin's reign (Plin. Ep. i. 5). He is one of Tacitus' trious birth and affinity to Claudius awakened her
authorities for the history of the civil wars after fears ; and Valerius Asiaticus, whose mistress
Galba's death, and a principal interlocutor in the Poppaea she envied, and whose estates she coveted.
dialogue De Oratoribus, ascribed to Tacitus. (Tac. The conspiracy of Annius Vinicianus and Camillus
Hist. iii. 9, 11, 18, 25, 28, iv. 42, Dialog. de Scribonianus in A. D. 42, afforded Messallina the
Orat. 15—25. )
(W. B. D. ] means of satiating her thirst for gold, vengeance,
MESSALLA, SI'LIUS, was consul suffectus and intrigue. Claudius was timid, and timidity
from the 1st of May, a. D. 193, and was the person made him cruel. Slaves were encouraged to in-
who formally announced to the senate the deposi- form against their masters; members of the noblest
tion of Didius Julianus and the elevation of Sep houses were subjected to the ignominy of torture
timius Severus. He is apparently the Messalla who and a public execution ; their heads were exposed
stands in the Fasti as consul for a. D. 214, and who in the forum ; their bodies were Aung down the
subsequently (A. D. 218) fell a sacrifice to the steps of the Capitol ; the prisons were filled with
jealous tyranny of Elagabalus. (Dion Cass. lxxiii
. a crowd of both sexes ; even strangers were not
17, lxxix. 5. )
(W. R. ) secure from her suspicions or solicitations; and the
MESSALLI'NA STATI'LIA, granddaughter only refuge from her love or hate was the surren-
of T. Statilius Taurus, cos. A. D. 11, was the third der of an estate or a province, an office or a purse,
wife of the emperor Nero, who married her in A. D. to herself or her satellites. The rights of citizen-
66. She had previously espoused Atticus Vestinus, ship were sold by Messallina and the freedmen
cos, in that year, whom Nero put to death without with shameless indifference to any purchaser, and
accusation or trial, merely that he might marry it was currently said that the Roman civitas might
Messallina. After Nero's death Otho, bad he been be purchased for two cracked drinking cups. Nor
successful against Vitellius, purposed to have mar- was the ambition of Messallina inferior to her other
ried her, and in the letters he sent to his friends passions. She disposed of legions and provinces
before he destroyed himself, were some addressed without consulting either Claudius or the senate ;
to Messallina. (Tac. Ann. xv. 68 ; Suet. Ner. 35, she corrupted or intimidated the judicial tribunals;
Oth, 10. ) There are only Greek coins of this her creatures filled the lowest as well as the highest
empresa.
(W. B. D. ) public offices; and their incompetency for the posts
MESSALLI'NA, VALEYRIA, daughter of M. they had bought led in a. D. 43 to a scarcity and
Valerius Messalla Barbatus and of Domitia Lepida, tumult. The charms, the arts, or the threats of
was the third wife of the emperor Claudius I. She Messallina were so potent with the stupid Claudius
married Claudius, to whom she was previously re- that he thought her worthy of the honours which
lated, before his accession to the empire. Her Livia, the wife of Augustus, had enjoyed ; he
character is drawn in the darkest colours by the alone was ignorant of her infidelities, and some-
almost contemporary pencils of Tacitus and the times even the unconscious minister of her plea-
elder Pliny, by the satirist Juvenal, who makes sures. A: his triumph for the campaign in Britain
ber the exemplar of female profligacy, and by the (A. D. 44), Messallina followed his chariot in a car-
historian Dion Cassius, who wrote long after any pentum or covered carriage (comp. Dion Cass. lx.
motive remained for exaggerating her crimes. We 33 ; Tac. Ann. xii. 42 ; Suet. Cluud. 17)-a pri-
must accept their evidence ; but we may remember vilege requiring a special grant from the senate.
that in the reign of Nero even Messallina's vices The adulteress received the title of Augusta and
may have received a deeper tinge from malignity the right of precedence-jus consessus—at all as-
and fear ; that it was the interest of Agrippina semblies ; her lover, Sabinus, once praefect of
[AGRIPPINA, No. 2], her successor in the imperial Gaul, but for his crimes degraded to a gladiator,
bed, to blacken her reputation, and that the fears was, at her request, reprieved from death in the
of her confederates may have led them to ascribe arena ; and the emperor caused a serious riot at
their common guilt to their victim alone. That the Rome by withholding the popular pantomime
reign of Claudius owed some of its worst features Mnester from the stage while Messallina detained
to the influence of his wives and freedmen is be- him in the palace. Messallina was safe so long as
yond doubt ; and it is equally certain that Messal- the freedmen felt themselves secure ; but when her
lina was faithless as a wife, and implacable where malice or her rashness endangered her accomplices,
her fears were aroused, or her passions or avarice her doom was inevitable. She had procured the
were to be gratified. The freedmen of Claudius, | death of Polybius, and Narcissus perceived the
especially Polybius and Narcissus, were her confe- frail tenure of his own station and life. The in-
;
## p. 1054 (#1070) ##########################################
1054
MESSAPUS.
METAGENES.
bine folly of Messallina, in A. D. 48, furnished the was invulnerable, and a fainous tamer of horses.
means of her own destruction. Hitherto she had (Virg. Aen. vii. 691, &c. , with the note of Ser-
been content with the usual excesses of a profligate vius. )
(L. S. )
age, with the secrecy of the palace, or the freedom MESSE'NE (Meootu), a daughter of Triopis,
of the brothel. But in a. D. 47 she had conceived and wife of Polycaon, whom she induced to taku
a violent passion for a handsome Roman youth, C. possession of the country which was called after
Silius. She compelled him to divorce his wife her, Messenia. She is also said to have introduced
Junia Silana, and in return discarded her favourite there the worship of Zeus and the mysteries of the
Mnester. In 48, her passion broke through the great goddess of Eleusis. In the town of Mese
last restraints of decency and prudence, and, during sene she was honoured with a temple and heroic
the absence of Claudius at Ostia, she publicly mar- worship. (Paus. iv. I. SS 2, &c. , 3. $ 6, 27. $ 4,
ried Silius with all the rites of a legal connubium. 31. $ 9. )
L. S. ]
Messallina had wrought upon the fears of Claudius C. MESSIUS, was tribune of the plebs in B. C.
for the destruction of others ; those fears were now 50, when he brought in a bill for Cicero's recall
turned against herself. Narcissus persuaded the from exile. (Cic. Post. Red. in Scm. 8. ) In the
feeble emperor that Silius and Messallina would not same year the Messian law, by the same tribune,
have dared such an outrage had they not deter- assigned extraordinary powers to Cn. Pompey (id.
mined also to deprive him of empire and life. ad Att. iv. I. ) Cicero defended Messius when he
Claudius wavered long, and at length Narcissis was recalled from a legatio, and attacked by the
himself issued Messallina's death-warrant, which Caesarian party (id. ad Att. iv. 15, viï. 11). Mes-
he committed to his freedman Euodus, and to a sius afterwards appears as an adherent of Caesar's,
tribune of the guards. Without transcribing Ta- whose troops he introduced into Acilla, a town in
citus it is impossible to describe worthily the irre- Africa. (Caes. B. A. 33. ) Messius was aedile,
solution of the emperor, the trepidation of the but in what year is unknown. (W. B. D. )
freedmen, the maternal love of Domitia Lepida, ME'SSIUS MAXIMUS. [MAXIMUS. )
and the helpless agony of Messallina. She perished MESSIUS, VE'CTIUS, a Volscian, who, in
by the tribune's hand in the gardens of Lucullus B. C. 431, distinguished himself in battle against
a portion of the demesnes of her victim Valerius the Romans. (Liv. iv. 28, 29. ) [W. B. D. ]
Asiaticus. Her name, titles, and statues were re- MESTOR (Mńotwp), the name of four mythical
moved from the palace and the public buildings of personages, of whom nothing of interest is related.
Rome by a decree of the senate. She left two (Apollod. ii. 4. § 5, iř. 12. & 5; Hom. ll. xxiv,
children by Claudius, Britannicus and Octavia. 257. )
(L. S. )
There are Greek and colonial but no Latin coins of MESTKA (Mhotpa), a daughter of Erysichthon,
this empress.
The inscription on her coins is and granddaughter of Triopas (whence she is
VALERIA MESSALINA. VALERIA MESSALINA AUG. I called Triopeïs, Ov. Met. viii. 872). She was sold
(Tac. Ann. xi. 1, 2, 12, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, | by her hungry father, that he might obtain the
33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38; Dion Cass. lx. 14, 15, 16, means of satisfying his hunger. In order to escape
17, 18, 27, 28, 29, 31 ; Juv. Sat. vi. 115--135, from slavery, she prayed to Poseidon, who loved
x. 333-336, xiv. 331 ; Suet. Claud. 17, 26, 27, her, and conferred on her the power of metamor-
29, 36, 37, 39, Ner. 6, Vitell. 2 ; Vict. Caes, iv ; phosing herself whenever she was sold, and of thus
Plin. H. N. x. 63 ; Sen. Mort. Claud. ; Joseph. each time returning to her father. (Tzetz. ad Lyc.
Antiq. xx. 8. § 1, Bell. ii. 12. $ 8. ) (W. B. D. ] 1393 ; Ov. Met. viii. 847, &c. ; Anton. Lib. 17,
MESSALLI'NUS AURELIUS COTTA. who calls her Hypermestra. )
[L. S. )
[Cotta, No. 12. ]
META (Mýta), a daughter of Hoples, and first
MESSALLI'NUS, M. VALE'RIUS CATUL wife of Aegeus. (Apollod. iii. 15. § 6. ) In other
LUS, was governor of the Libyan Pentapolis in traditions she was called Melite. (Schol
. ad Ex-
the reigns of Vespasian and Titus, where he treated rip. Med. 668. )
(L. S. ]
the Jewish provincials with extreme cruelty, and MEʻTABUŚ (Métabos), a son of Sisyphus, from
by a fictitious plot involved in a charge of perduel whom the town of Metapontum, in Southern Italy,
lion the principal Jews residing at Alexandria and was believed to have derived its name. (Strab
Rome, and among them the historian Josephus. vi. p. 265; Serv. ad Aen. xi. 540 ; Steph. Byz.
Messallinus was recalled from his province, but s. v. MetanóUTiOv. )
[L. S. )
eluded the punishment due to his crimes, probably METACLEIDÉS (Merakheidns), a peripatetic
through Domitian's interest with his father and philosopher, who wrote on Homer, mentioned by
brother. Under Domitian Messallinus distinguished Tatianus and Suidas (s. v. ). There is some dispute
himself as a delator. Josephus represents him as as to whether the name should be Metacleides or
dying in extreme torments aggravated by an evil Megacleides. (Fabric. Bith Gracc. vol. i. pp. 321,
conscience. Messallinus was probably consul in 517. )
(C. P. M. ]
A. D. 73. (Fasti ; Joseph. B. J. vii, 11. 83; Plin. META'GENES (Merayévns), an Athenian
Ep. iv. 22 ; Juv. Sat. iv. 113–122. ) [W. B. D. ) comic poet of the Old Comedy, contemporary with
MESSAPEUS (Meccaneus), a surname of Zeus, Aristophanes, Phrynichus, and Plato. (Schol. in
under which he had a sanctuary between Amyclae Aristoph. Av. 1297. ) Suidas gives the following
and mount Taygetus. It was said to have been titles of his plays: -- Aŭpan Mappákubos, Ooupla
derived from a priest of the name of Messapeus. | πέρσαι, Φιλοθύτης, “Ομηρος η 'Ασκηται, 8ο1ne of
(Paus. iii. 20. § 3. )
(L. S. ] which appear to be corrupt. (Meineke, Trag.
MESSA'PUS (Mécranos). 1. A Boeotian, Com. Graec. vol. i. pp. 218–221, vol. ii. pp.
from whom Mount Messapion, on the coast of 751--760 ; Bergk, Com. Atl. Ant. Reliq. p. 421 ;
Boeotia, and Messapia (also called lapygia), in Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. ii. p. 470. ) (P. S. ]
southern Italy, were believed to have derived their META'GENES, artists. 1. The son of Cher-
names. (Strab. ix. p. 405. )
siphron, and one of the architects of the temple of
2. A son of Neptune and king of Etruria, who | Artemis at Ephesus. [CHBRSIPARON. ]
## p. 1055 (#1071) ##########################################
METAPHRASTES.
1055
METELLUS.
&
14
ana
Di
:)
1r
2. An Athenian architect in the time of Peri- | Liber dictus Paraclitus seu illustrium Sanctorum
cles, was engaged with Cornebus and Icting and Vitae, desumptae er Simeone Metaphraste, Venice,
Xenocles in the erection of the great temple at 1541, 4to.
Eleusis. (Plut. Peric. 13. )
(P. S. ] 2. Annales, beginning with the emperor Leo
METANEIRA (Metávespa), the wife of Celeus, Armenus (A. D. 813–820), and finishing with
and mother of Triptolemus, received Demeter on Romanus, the son of Constantine Porphymgenitus,
her arrival in Attica. (Hom. Hynn, in Cer. 161; who reigned from 959--963. It is evident that
Apollod. i. 5. § 1. ) Pausanias (i. 39. § 1) calls the Metaphrastes who was ambassador in 902
her Meganaera
(L. S. ) cannot possibly be the author of a work that treats
METAPHRA'STES, SY'MEON (Eupewe d on matters which took place 60 years afterwards :
Merampdorns), a celebrated Byzantine writer, thence some believe that the latter part of the
lived in the ninth and tenth centuries. He was Annales was written by another Metaphrastes,
descended from a noble family of great distinction while Baronius thinks that the author of the whole
in Constantinople, and, owing to his birth, his of that work lived in the 12th century. The
talents, and his great learning, he wns raised to Annales were published with a Latin version by
the highest dignities in the state ; and we find that Combéfis in list. Byzant. Script. post Theophanem,
;
he successively held the offices of proto-secretarius, of which the edition by Immanuel Bekker, Bonn,
logotheta dromi, and perhaps magnus logotheta, 1838, 8vo. , is a revised reprint. The Annales are
and at least that of magister, whose office re- a valuable source of Byzantine history.
sembled much that of our president of the privy 3. Annales ab Orbe Condito, said to be extant in
council. The title of Patricius was likewise con- / MS.
