No More Learning

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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? MLMN. JNIUM.
MEMNONIl. V
ci. iiukI. and shattered into a thousand pieces. ft
is about 26 feet broad between the shoulders, 54 feet
round the chest, and 13 feet from the shoulder to the
elbow. There are on the back and on both arms
uicroglyphical tablets, extremely well executed, which
identify this enormous statue with the hero whose
achievements are sculptured on the walls of the tem-
ple. This figure has sometimes been confounded
with that which bears the name of Munition, and
wh'ch has so long been celebrated for its vocal quali-
ties. The latter, however, is one of the two statues
vulgarly called Shama and Dama, which stand a little
distance from Mcdincl Abou towards the Nile. These,
we are told, are nearly equal in magnitude, being about
S3 feet in height. The thrones on which they re-
spectively rest are 30 feet long, IS broad, and be-
tween seven and eight feet high. Tbcy are placed
about 40 feet asunder; are in a line with each other,
and look towards the east, directly opposite to the
temple of Luxor. If there be any difference of size,
the southern one is the smaller. It appears to be of
one entire stone. The face, arms, and front of the
body have suffered so much from studied violence,
that not a feature of the countenance remains. The
head-dress is beautifully wrought, as are also the shoul-
ders, which, with the back, continue quite uninjured
The massy hair projects from behind the ears like that
of the sphinx. The sides of the throne are highly
ornamented with the elegant device of two bearded
figures tying the stem of the flexible lotus round the
ligula. The colossus is in a sitting posture, with the
hands resting on the knees. The other statue, which
stands on the north side, appears to be that of the
vocal Memnon. It presents the same attitude as its
companion. This famous statue was said to utter,
when it was struck by tho first beams of the sun, a
sound like the snapping asunder of a musical string,
(Pausan. , 1, 42, 3. ) Cambyses, who spared not the
Egyptian god Apis, suspecting some imposture, broke
the statue from the head to the middle of the body,
but discovered nothing. Strabo (816), who visited
the spot in a later age, states that he saw two colos-
sal figures, one of them erect, and the other broken off
from above, and the fragments lying on tho ground.
He adds, however, a tradition, that this had been oc-
casioned by an earthquake. The geographer says
that he and . Elius Callus, with many other friends
/ and a large number of soldiers, were standing by these
statues early in the morning, when they heard a cer-
tain sound, but could not determine whether it came
from the colossus, or the base, or from tho surrounding
multitude. He mentions also that it was a current
belief that the sound came from that part of the statue
which remained on tho base. Pliny and Tacitus
mention the sound produced from the statue without
having themselves heard it (Pint. , 36, 11. -- Tacit. ,
Ann. , 2, 61. --Compare Juvenal, 15, 5), and Lucian
informs us that Demetrius went on purpose to -Egypt
to see the pyramids and Memnon's statue, from which
a voice proceeded at the rising of the sun. (Toxaris,
6, 27. ) It was a general persuasion, indeed, among
the Egyptians as well as others, that before Cambyses
broke this colossus, it uttered the seven mysterious
vowels. What characterizes, however, in a particu-
lar degree, the statue of vocal celebrity, is the inscrip-
tions, both in Greek and Latin, in verse and prose, with
which its legs are covered. Most of these inscriptions
? ? belong to the period of the early Roman emperors,
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? MEM
MEMPHIS.
sume in the lap of the statue in the year 1824, and
ronjectured that it might have been uaed to deceive
the Rinnan v'-iters; but the nature of tho sound,
which did not agree with the accounts given by an-
neiit aulhoia, seemed to present an insuperable objec-
tion. In a subsequent visit to Thebes in 1830, on
igiir. summing the statue and its inscriptions, I found
! bat oho Ballilla had compared it to the striking of
irass; and feeling convinced that this authority was
iiore decisive than the vague accounts of thoso wri-
ters who had never heard it, I determined on posting
ionic peasants below and aacending myself to the lap
of the statue, with a view of hearing from them the
impression made by the sound. Having struck the
sonorous block with a small hammer, I inquired what
they heard, and their answer, Ente betidrob e'nahas,
'You are striking brass,' convinced me that the
sound was the same that deceived the Romans, and
led Strabo to observe that it appeared to him as the
effect of a alight blow. " (Wilkinson11 Topography
of Thtbct, p. 36, seq )--The head of the colossal
Memnon in the British Museum has no claim to be con-
sidered the vocal Memnon described by Strabo, Taci-
tus, and Pausanias. The height of the figure to which
the head belongs was about 24 feet when entire.
There is also an entire colossal Memnon in the British
Museum 9 feet 6) inches high, which is a copy of the
jreat Memr. on at Thebes. {Hamilton's Mgyptiaca.
-- Philological Museum, No. 4, art. Memnon. --En-
a/el. Us. Knowi, vol. IS, p. 88, seqq. )
Memphis, a famous city of Egypt, on the left side
af the Nile. Concerning the epoch of its foundation
and its precise situation, writers are r. ot agreed. With
regard to its position, it would seem, from a review
of all the authorities which bear upon the subject,
that Memphis stood about IS miles south of the Apex
of the Delta: this, at least, is D'Anville's opinion.
Herodotus (2, 99) assigns the founding of Memphis
to Menes, and Diodorus (1, SO) to Uchoreus. From
the account given by the former of these writers, it
would seem that the Nile originally ran nearer the
Libyan mountains, and that Menes, having erected a
Urge dam about a hundred stadia south of the spot
where Memphis afterward stood, caused the river to
pursue a more easterly course. After he had thus di-
verted the current of the stream, he built Memphis
within the ancient bed of the Nile. The great em-
bankment was always an object of attention, and
Herodotus states that under the Persian dominion it
was annually repaired; for if the river had at any time
broken through the bank, the whole city would have
be in inundated. In Memphis the same Menes erected
a njignincent tenylc to Vulcan or Phtha. (Herod. , I.
e. ) What Herodotus partly saw and partly learned
from the lips of the priests relative to this city, Dio-
dorus confirms (I, SO). He, too, speaks of the large
embankment, of a vast and deep excavation which re-
ceived the water of the river, and which, encircling
the city, excep in the quarter where the mound was
constructed, rendered it secure against any hostile
attack. He differs from Herodotus, however, in ma-
king, as has already been remarked, Uchoreus to have
been its founder. On this point, indeed, there appears
to have been a great diversity of opinion among the
ancient writers, for we find the building of Memphis
assigned also to Epaphus (Schol. , in Stat. , Theb. , 4,
737) and to Apis. (Syncellus, p. 149. --Compare
? ? Wesseling, ad Diod. Sic, I. c. ) It is more than
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? MEN
MENANDER.
Mind years mug, hare done towards its destruction,
iherc are yet found in it works so wonderful that they
'Dnfouud even a reflecting mind, and are such as the
most eloquent would not be able to describe. The
more you consider them, the more does your astonish-
ment increase; and the more you look at them, the
more pleasure you experience Every idea which they
? uggest immediately gives birth to some other still
more n. vel and unexpected; and as soon as you ima-
gine that you have traced out their full scope, you dis-
cover that there is something still greater behind. "
Among the works here alluded to, he specifies a mon-
olithic temple similar to the one mentioned by Herod-
otus, adorned with curious sculptures. He next ex-
patiates upon the idols found among the ruins, not less
remarkable for the beauty of their forms, the exactness
of their proportions, and perfect resemblance to na-
ture, than for their truly astonishing dimensions. We
measured one of them, he says, which, without in-
cluding the pedestal, was 45 feet in length, 15 feet
from side to aide, and from back to front in the same
proportion. It was of one block of red granite, covered
with a coating of red varnish, tho antiquity of which
seemed only to increaae its lustre. The ruins of
Memphis, in his time, extended to the distance of half
a day'e journey in every direction. But so rapidly has
the work of destruction proceeded since the twelfth
century, that few points have been more debated by
modern travellers than the site of thia celebrated me-
tropolis. The investigations of the French, as nas al-
ready been remarked, appear to have decided the ques-
tion. "At Myt-Rahyneh (Metrahaini), one league
from Saccara, we found," says General Dugna, "so
many blocks of granite covered with hieroglyphics and
sculptures around and within an esplanade three leagues
in circumference, enclosed by heaps of rubbish, that we
were convinced these must be the ruins of Memphis.
The sight of some fragments of one of those colos-
? usses, which Herodotus says were erected by Sesos-
ris at the entrance of the temple of Vulcan, would,
ndced, have been sufficient to dispel our doubts had
any remained. The wrist of this colossus shows that
t must have been 45 feet high. " (RusieWs Egypt,
p. 216, scifj. )-- Memphis is thought by many to have
been the Noph of Scripture. {Isaiah, 19, 13--Jcr. ,
i, \6. --Ezek. ,30, 13-16. )
Menander (Mtvavdpoc), I. a celebrated comic poet
il Athens, born B. C. 342. According to Suidas, he
*as the son of Diopithes and Hegistrate, was cross-
eyed, and yet clear-headed enough (orpaSof too oipeic
'<fi>c dc tov voiiv). His father was at this time com-
mander of the forces stationed by the Athenians at the
Hellespont, and must therefore have been a man of
>>ome consequence. Alexis, the comic poet, was his
uncle and instructer in the drama. (Proleg. , Aris-
'oph. , p. 30 ) Theophrastus was his tutor in philoso-
phy and literature, and he may have derived from the
latter the knowledge of character for which he waa so
eminent. (Ding. Laert. , 5, 36. ) The merit of his
pieces obtained for him the title of Chief of the New
Comedy. His compositions were remarkable for their
elegance, refined wit, and knowledge of human nature.
In his 21st year he brought out the 'Opyrf, his first
'(Proleg. , Aristoph. , p. xxx. ) He lived 29
drama.
vears more, dying B. C. 292, after having composed
105 plays, according to some aulhorities (Apollod. , ap.
? ? A*l. Geli, 17,4), and according to others 108. (Sui-
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? AT R ;\
ME>>
iteout 370 H. C He mi the author of a treatise
Hep* KJrjd'ixr. *<Jv," Concerning discourses delivered
for mere display. " -- III. Surnamed "Protector," a
Greek writer, who lived at Constantinople during the
latter half of the sixth century. He was one of the
emperor's body-guard, whence he derived the name of
"Protector. " (Cod. Theodos. . 6, 84. ) He wrote a
history of the Eastern empire, from A. D. 659 to A. D.
582, in eight books, of which considerable extracts
have been preserved in the " Ecloga Legationum,"
? ttributed to Conatantine Porphyrogenitus. The best
edition of Menander is by Bekker and'Niebuhr, Bonn. ,
1830, together with the fragments of Dexippus, Eu-
napius, Patricius, &c. (Encycl. Us. Knoxel. , vol. 15,
p. 9S. )
MisapTi, I.