His brother, who had been
adopted by Miltiades the elder, having died without
issue, Miltiades the younger, though he had not, like
Stesagoras, an interest established during the life of
his predecessor, and though tho Chersonese waa not
by law an hereditary principality, was still sent by the
Pisistratidie thither with a galley.
adopted by Miltiades the elder, having died without
issue, Miltiades the younger, though he had not, like
Stesagoras, an interest established during the life of
his predecessor, and though tho Chersonese waa not
by law an hereditary principality, was still sent by the
Pisistratidie thither with a galley.
Charles - 1867 - Classical Dictionary
129.
) At
all events, we rind the name Midas reappearing in the
legends of Asia Minor. Thus, mention is made of
a King Midas who reigned at Pcssinus, where he built
a splendid temple to Cybele, and established her sa-
cred rites. (Diod. Sic, 3, 5. ) So also Xenophon
places near Thymbriuin the fountain where Midas was
said to have caught the satyr. (Anab, 1, 2, 13. )
Wc have likewise another legend relative to Midas and
Silenus, the scene of which is laid, not in Europe, but
in Lower Asia. According to this account, as Bac-
chus was in Lydia, on his return from the conquest of
the East, some of the country people met Silenus stag-
gering about, and, binding him with his own garlands,
fed him to their king. Midas entertained him for ten
days, and then conducted him to his foster-son, who, in
his gratitude, desired the king to ask whatever gift he
would. Midas craved that all he touched might turn
to gold. His wish was granted; but when he found
bis very food converted to precious metal, and himself
on the point of starving in the midst of wealth, he
prayed the god to resume his fatal gift. ? Bacchus di-
rected him to bathe in the Pactolua, and hence that
river obtained golden sands. (Otid, Met. , 11, 85,
seqa. -- Hygin. ,fab. , 191. -- Serv. , ad Mn. , 10, 142.
--Max. Tyr. , 30. ) There is a third legend relative
to Midas. Pan, the god of shepherds, venturing to
set his reed-music in opposition to the lyre of Apollo,
was pronounced overcome by Mount Tmolus; and all
present approved the decision except King Midas,
whose ears were, for their obtuseness, lengthened by
the victor to those of an ass. The monarch endeav-
oured to conceal this degradation from his subjects;
but it was perceived by one of his attendants, who,
finding it difficult to keep the secret, yet afraid to re-
veal it, dug a bole in the ground, and whispered there-
in what he had perceived. His words were echoed by
the reeds which afterward grew on the spot, and which
are said to hare repeated, when agitated by the wind,
"Xing- Midas has asses' cart. " (Ovid, Met. , 11, 153,
? ? seqq. )--The legend respecting the wealth of Midas
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? MILETUS.
MiL
Miletjs, 1 a son of Apollo, who fled from Crete
? o avoid falling into the hands of Minos. (Apollod. , 3,
1, 2. ) He came to Caria, and was said to have been
the founder of tho city of Miletus. {Apollod. , I. c. --
Compare Heyne, ad loc. )--II. The most celebrated of
the cities of Ionia, situate on the southern ahore of the
bay into which the river Latmus emptied, and, accord-
ing to Strabo, eighty stadia south of the embouchure
Of the Meander. (Strab. , 634. ) The origin of this
city falls in the period of the first Greek emigrations
from home; but the circumstances connected with its
founding are involved in great uncertainty. As far as
any opinion can be formed from various accounts that
are given of this event, it would appear that the place
was first settled by natives of the country; that to
these came Sarpcdon from Miletus in Crete, and after
him Neleus from Attica, together with other settlers
in process of time. {Strab. , I. c. -- l'ausan , 7, 2. --
Apollod. , 3, l. --Euslalh. ad Dionys. , v. 825. ) Mile-
tus was already large and flourishing when the cities
of the parent country were but just beginning to emerge
from obscurity. The admirable situation of the place,
and the convenience of having four harbours, one of
which was capable of containing a large fleet, gave it
an early and great preponderance in maritime affairs.
It carried on an active and extensive commerce with
the shores of the Euxine on the one hand, and the dis-
tant coast of Spain on the other, to say nothing of the
principal ports of the Mediterranean, which were like-
wise frequented by the Milesian vessels. Its most
important trade, however, was with the shores of the
Euxine. Almost all the Greek cities along the coast
of this inland sea, which were found there at the pe-
riod of the Persian power, were of Milesian origin.
As, however, many of those cities were themselves
conspicuous for size and population, ono can hardly
comprehend how Miletus, in the midst of so active a
traffic, which of itself must have required tho attention
of considerable numbers, could command a superflu-
ous population, sufficiently extensive for the establish-
ment of so many colonies, which Pliny makes to have
been eighty in number, and Seneca seventy-five.
(Plin , 2>>. -- Senec, Consol. ad Hclv. , c. 6. --Consult
Kiimbach. dc Mileto cjusqne Coloniis, Hal. Sax. , 1790.
--Larclur, Hist. d'Hirod. , vol. 8, p. 344, 359. ) It is
more than probable, that, in sending out these colonics,
the natives of the country, the Lydians, Carians, and
Leleges, were invited to join, and did so. --Miletus
was already a powerful city when the Lydian monarchy
rose into consequence. The kings of Lydia, posses-
sors of all the surrounding territory, could not brook
the independence of the Ionian city; they accordingly
carried on war against it for many years, and were at
! imes powerful enough to advance even to thecity walls,
and to destroy or carry otT the produce of the neigh-
bouring country; but they were unable to mar the pros-
perity of a city which bad the control of the sea, and
consequently bade defiance to their power. The Mile-
aiaus appear subsequently to have made a treaty with
Croesus, in which they probably acknowledged that
sovereign as their liege lord, and consented to pay him
tribute. The same treaty was also agreed upon be-
tween them and Cyrus, when the latter had conquered
Lydia; and this saved Miletus from the disaaters which
befell at that time the other Ionian states. {Herod. ,
1,141, 143. ) But it was not always equally fortunate.
In the reign of Dirius, the whole of Ionia was excited
? ? 10 revolt by the intrigues and ambitious schemes of
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? MILO.
MILO.
givm ji hi* voracity is almost incredible. He ate, it
is said, every day, twenty pounds of animal food,
twenty pounds of bread, and drank fifteen pints of
wine. Atheneus relates, that on one occasion he
carried a ste<< lour years old the whole length of the
? tadium at Olympia (606 feet), and then, having cut it
op and cooked it, ate it all up himself in one day.
(Athen. , 10, p. 412, e) Some authorities add, that
he killed it with a single blow of his fist. He had an
opportunity, however, at last, of exerting his prodi-
giojs strength in a more useful manner. One day,
while attending the lectures of Pythagoras, of whom
he was a disciple and constant hearer, the column
which supported the ceiling of the hall where they
Tvere assembled was observed to totter, whereupon
Milo, upholding the entire superstructure by his own
strength, allowed all present an opportunity of esca-
ping, and then saved himself. Milo was crowned
seven times as victor at the Pythian games, and six
times at the Olympic, ar:d he only ceased to present
himself at these contests when he found no one will-
ing to be his opponent. In B. C. 509 he had the
command of the army sent by the people of Crotona
against Sybaris, and gained a signal victory. --His
death was a melancholy one. He was already ad-
vanced in years, when, traversing a forest, he found a
trunk of a tree partly cleft by wedges. Wishing to
sever it entirely, he introduced his hands into the open-
ing, and succeeded so far as to cause the wedges to
fall oat; but his strength here failing him, the separa-
ted parts on a sudden reunited, and his hands remain-
ed imprisoned in the cleft. In this situation he was
devoured by wild beasts. (Aid. Gell ? 15. 16. --Vol.
Max. , 9, 12, 17. )--II. Titus An runs, was a native of
Lanavium in Latium, and was born about 05 B. C.
Hi* family appears to have been a distinguished one,
sine* we find him espousing the daughter of Sylla.
Havi. ig been chosen tribune of the commons B. C. 57,
he aealously exerted himself for the recall of Cicero,
but the violent proceedings of Clodius paralyzed all
his efforts. Determined to put an end to this, he
summoned Clodius to trial as a disturber of the pub-
he peace; but the consul Mctellusdismissed the pros-
ecution, and thus enabled Clodius to resume with im-
punity his unprincipled and daring career. Milo there-
upon found himself compelled, for the sake of his
own personal safety, to keep around him a band of
armed followers. His private resources having suf-
fered greatly by the magnificent games which he had
exhibited, Milo, in order to repair his shattered for-
tunes, married Fausta, the daughter of Svlla; but the
union was an unhappy one; Fausta was discovered to
be unfaithful to his bed, and her paramour, the histo-
rian Sallust, was only allowed to escape after receiving
severe personal chastisement, and paying a large sum
of money to the injured husband. Clodius mean-
while, having obtained the office of tedile, had the as-
surance to accuse Milo in his turn of being a disturber
of the public tranquillity, and of violating the laws by
keeping a body of armed men in his service. Pom-
pey defended the latter; Clodius spoke in reply; and
the whole affair was carried on amid the most violent
clamours from their respective partisans. No decis-
ion, however, was made; the matter was protracted,
znd at last allowed to drop. Some years after this
(B. C. 51) Milo offered himself as a candidate for the
consulship against two other competitors. Clodius,
? ? of course, opposed him; but the powerful exertions of
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? MIL
MILTIADES.
ji raising oppojition to Csesar during that command-
er's absence in Thessaly against Pompey. He adds
that Milo was killed by the blow of a stone while lay.
ing siege to Compsa, a town of tho Hirpini. (C<? . ,
Or. pro Mil. --Veil. Patere. , 2, 47, 66. --Eneyclop.
Metropol. , div. 3, toI. 2, p. 218, seq. --Biogr. Univ. ,
toI. 29, p. 57. )
Miltucis, I. an Athenian, sop of Cypselus, who
obtained a victory in a chariot-race at the Olympic
games, and led a colon" of his countrymen to the
Cbersf testis. The cause of this step on his part was
? singular one. It seems that the Thracian Dolonci,
harassed by a long war with the Absinthians, were di-
rected by the oracle of Delphi to take for their king
the first man they met in their return home, who in-
vited ibem to come under his roof and partake of his
entertainments. The Dolonci, after receiving the or-
>>cle, returned by the sacred way, passed through Pho-
cis and Bceotia, and, not being invited by cither of
these people, turned aside to Athens. Miltiades, as
he sat in this city before the door of his house, ob-
served the Dolonci passing by, and as by their dress
and armour he perceived they were strangers, he call-
ed to them, and offered them the rites of hospitality.
They accepted his kindness, and, being hospitably
treated, revealed to him all the will of the oracle, with
which they entreated his compliance. Miltiades, dis-
posed to listen to them because weary of the tyranny
of Pisistratus, first consulted the oracle of Delphi, and
the answer being favourable, he went with the Dolon-
ci. He was invested by the inhabitants of the Cher-
sonese with sovereign power. The first measure he
took was to stop the farther incursions of the Absin-
thians, by building a wall across the isthmus. When
lie had established himself at home, and fortified his
dominions against foreign invasion, he turned his arms
? gainst Lampsacus. His expedition was unsuccess-
ful; he was taken in an ambuscade, and made pris-
oner. His friend Cropsus, king of Lydia. however,
was informed of his captivity, and procured his release
by threatening the people of Lampsacus with his se-
verest displeasure. He lived a few years after he had
tecovered his liberty. As he had no issue, he left his
kingdom and possessions to Stesagoras, the son of
Cimon, who was his brother by the same mother. The
memory of Miltiades was greatly honoured by the
Dolonci, and they regularly celebrated festivals and
exhibited shows in commemoration of a man to whom
they owed their preservation and greatness. (Herod. ,
6, 38. --Id. , 6, 103. )--II. A nephew of the former, and
brother of Stesagoras.
His brother, who had been
adopted by Miltiades the elder, having died without
issue, Miltiades the younger, though he had not, like
Stesagoras, an interest established during the life of
his predecessor, and though tho Chersonese waa not
by law an hereditary principality, was still sent by the
Pisistratidie thither with a galley. By a mixture of
fraud and force he succeeded in securing the tyranny.
On his srrival at the Chersonese, he appeared mourn-
ful, as if lamenting the recent death of his brother.
The principal inhabitants of the country visited the
new governor to condole with him, but their confidence
in his sincerity proved fatal to them. Miltiades seiz-
ed their persons, and made himself absolute in Cher-
sonesus; and, to strengthen himself, he married He-
gesipyla, the daughter of Olorus, king of the Thra-
eiana. When Darius marched against the Scythians,
? ? Miltiades submitted to him and followed in his train,
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? M 1M
MIN
men, Irom ihe wanior-like MiliiaJcs and Themistocles,
to ihe warlike rhetorician Pericles, and thence to the
orator, who to his rhetorical skill united no military
prowess. Milliades, with great generalship, showed
groat power as a statesman, and some, but not much,
aa an orator. This is agreeable to his age. Wheth-
er be was a true patriot, governed by high principle,
it is new impossible to determine. He achieved one
peat action, which for his country produced a most
decisive result. The unfortunate close of his career
may be regarded by some as showing the ingratitude
of democracies; but perhaps a judicious historian will
draw no conclusion of the kind, especially with so
imperfect materials before him as we possess of the
life of this illustrious Athenian. If the Athenians
conceived that nothing he had done for them ought
to raise him above the laws; if they even thought
that his services had been sufficiently rewarded by the
station which enabled him to perform them, and by
the glory he reaped from them, they were not un-
grateful or unjust; and if Miltiades thought other-
wise, he had not learned to live in a free state. (Me-
nd , lib. 5 el 6 -- Corn. Nep. , Vit. Mill. --Encyd.
Vs. Knotel. , vol. 15, p. m. --Tkirlwall's Greece,
vol. 2, p. 246. )
Milto. Vid. Aspasia II.
Milvius Pons, a bridge about two miles from
Kome, over the Tiber, in a northerly direction. It
was also called Mulvius. Its construction is ascribed
to M. . -Emilius Scaurus, who was censor A. U. C. 644,
and its ancient appellation is probably a corruption of
bis nonun. The modern name is Ponte Molle. If it
as true that the bridge owed its erection to . /Emilius,
Lrvy, when he speaks of it (27,51), must be supposed
to mention it by anticipation. We learn from Cicero
that the Pons Mulvius existed at the time of Catiline's
conspiracy, since the dej Jties of the Allobroges were
here seized by his orders. In later times, it witnessed
the defeat of Maxentius by Constantine. (Zosim. , 2,
JO. -- Cramer's Anc. Jraiy, vol. 1, r\ 239. )
Mn. v is. Vid. Lycia.
Mimallones, a name given to the priestesses of
Bacchus among the Thracians, according to Hesy-
chius and Suidas, or, more correctly, to the female Bac-
chantes in general. Suidas deduces the term from
the Greek /ufinoic, "imitation" because the Baccha-
nals, under the influence of the god, imitated in their
wild fury the actions of men. Others, however, de-
rive it from Mimas, a mountain of Thrace. Nonnus
enumerates the Mimallones among the companions of
Bacchus in his Indian expedition. (Compare Persius,
Sal. , 1, 99. -- Ovid, A. A. , 1, 541. -- Sidon. , Free/.
Paneg. Anthem. ) Bochart gives as the etymology of
? he word the Hebrew Memallelan (" garrulse," "lo-
nuaculas"); or else Mamal, "a wine-press. " (Rolle,
Reeherchcs sur le culte de Bacchus, vol. 1, p. 136. )
Mimas, I. one of the giants that warred against the
gods. (Compare Eurip. , Ion, 215. -- Senec, Here.
r*ur. ,981. --Apoll. Rhod. , 3, 1227. )--II. A mountain
range of Ionia, terminating in the promontory Argen-
num, opposite the lower extremity of Chios. (Thu-
csjd. , 8, 34 -- Plin. ,5, 29. --Amm. Marc, 31, 42. )
Mimnermus, an elegiac poet, a native of Colophon
In Ionia, and contemporary with Solon. Miiller, quo-
ting a fragment of Mimnermus' elegy entitled " Nan-
no," says that he was one of the colonists of Smyrna
from Colophon, and whose ancestors, at a still earlier
? ? period, came from Nclean Pylos. (Hist. Lit. Gr. ,
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? M IN
M, or to -heir wont of mechanical contrivances, or to
their knowledge that a compact and globular body is
least liable to loss from friction, the Athenian coin
was minted in a form more massive than our own,
and nuch less convenient for tale or transfer, hut bet-
ter calci luted to maintain its value unimpaired by the
wear of constant circulation. --The only question that
remain? to be considered here is this: to what cause
wis it owing that the coins of Athens should have
bein executed tnroughout in a style of inelegance and
etir. 'ciiesa, a* a time, loo, when the coins of other
antrijts, far inferior in scienco and reputation to
A'. hcia, were finished in the most perfect workman-
ship 1 Tho fact is certainly remarkable; and the
only explanation that has hitherto been given of it,
may tend to illustrate still farther the beneficial effects
of commerce in its influence on the Athenian mint.
The ancient coinage, says Eckhel, had recommended
itself so strongly by its purity, and had become so
universally known among Greeks and barbarians by
its primitive emblems, that it would have been im-
possible to have made any considerable change in the
form or workmanship of the coin, without creating a
degree of suspicion against it, and eventually con-
tracting its circulation. (Walpote's Collection, vol. 1,
p. 433. --Cardwcll's Lectures, p. 9, scqq. )
Mincius, now Mineio, a river of Gallia Cisalpina,
flowing from the Lake Benacus, and falling into the
Po. ( Vtrg. , Eclog. , 7, 13. -- Id. , Georg. , 3, 15%-Id. ,
JEn, 10, 206. )
Miskiuks or Minykidzs, the daughters of Minyas,
king of Orchomonus, in Bccotia. They were three in
number, Leucippe, Aristippe, and Alcathoe. These
females derided the rites of Bacchus, and continued
plying their looms, while the other women ran through
the mountains. Bacchus came as a maiden and re-
monstrated, but in vain; he then assumed the form
of various wild beasts; serpents filled their baskets;
vinos and ivy twined round their looms, while wine
tnd milk distilled from the roof; but their obstinacy
was unsubdued. He finally drove them mad; they
torn to pieces the son of Leucippe, and then went roam-
ing through the mountains, till Mercury touched them
with his wand, and turned them into a bat, an owl,
and a crow. (Corinna el Nicand. , ap. Anton. Lib. , 10.
--AZlian, V. H. , 3, 42. -- Ovid, Met. , 4, 1, scqq. --
Keightley's Mythology, p. 213. )
Minerva, an ancient Italian divinity, the same in
general with tho Pallas-Athene (IlaX/iac 'kdijvn) of
the Greeks, and to bo considered, therefore, in com-
mon with her, in one and the same article. --Minerva
or Athene was regarded in the popular mythology as
the goddess of wisdom and skill, and, in a word, cf
all the liberal arts and sciences. In both the Homeric
poems she is spoken of as the daughter of Jupiter, and
Li one place it seems to be intimated that she had no
other parent. (It. , 5, 875, tcqq. ) In later writers,
however, the legend assumes a more extended form.
It is said that Jupiter, after his union with Metis, was
informed by Heaven and Earth that the first child born
from this marriage, a maiden, would equal him in
strength and counsel; and that the second, a son,
would bo king of gods and men. Alarmed at this
prediction, the monarch of Olympus swallowed bis
spouse, who was thsn pregnant; but being seized,
after a ". irts, with racking pains in the head, the god
aummcrvxi >> uinar. to his aid, who, in obedience to the
commands of Jupiter, cleft the head of the latter with
? ? a blow jf his brazen hatchet, and Minerva immediate-
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? MINERVA.
? he had long been regarded ? ? the tutelary dc. ly of
Athens. We may therefore safely reject the legends
? f l>>f_ being the same with the Ne'ith (Hesych. , NVftj)
of Sais in Egypt, or a war-goddess imported from the
banks of the Lake Tritonis in Libya, and view in her
one of the deities worshipped by the agricultural Pe-
lagians, and therefore probably one of the powers
engaged in causing the productiveness of the earth.
Her being represented, in the poetic creed, as the
goddess of arts and war alone, is merely a transition
from physical to moral agents, that will presently be
explained. (Miller, Proleg. , p. 244. --Sckwenck,'An-
ient. , p. 230. -- Welcker, Tril. , p. 282. )--The etymol-
ogy of the Latin name Minerva is doubtful. The first
part probably contains the same root (min, men, or
man) that we have in the Latin me-mini,mcn-s. Sec,
and also in the Greek piUtoc, pi-fiv^-onu, &c, and
the Sanscrit man-as. Cicero (N. D. , 3, 24) gives a
very curious etymology, "Minerva, quia minuit, aul
suio minalur;"' but some of the ancient grammarians
appear to have been more rational in considering it a
shortened form of Mcmincrva, since she was also the
goddess of memory. Festus connects it with the verb
monere. Miillcr supposes that the word, like the wor-
ship of the goddess herself, came to the Romans from
Elruria, and he makes the Etrurian original to have
been Menerfa or Mtnrfa. (Etrusk. , vol. 2, p. 48. )--
There were some peculiarities in the worship of Mi-
nerva by the Romans that deserve to be mentioned.
Her statue was usually placed in schools; and the
pupils were accustomed every year to present their
masters with a gift called Minerval. (Varro, R. R. ,
3. 2. --Compare Tcrtull. , de Idol. , c. 10.
all events, we rind the name Midas reappearing in the
legends of Asia Minor. Thus, mention is made of
a King Midas who reigned at Pcssinus, where he built
a splendid temple to Cybele, and established her sa-
cred rites. (Diod. Sic, 3, 5. ) So also Xenophon
places near Thymbriuin the fountain where Midas was
said to have caught the satyr. (Anab, 1, 2, 13. )
Wc have likewise another legend relative to Midas and
Silenus, the scene of which is laid, not in Europe, but
in Lower Asia. According to this account, as Bac-
chus was in Lydia, on his return from the conquest of
the East, some of the country people met Silenus stag-
gering about, and, binding him with his own garlands,
fed him to their king. Midas entertained him for ten
days, and then conducted him to his foster-son, who, in
his gratitude, desired the king to ask whatever gift he
would. Midas craved that all he touched might turn
to gold. His wish was granted; but when he found
bis very food converted to precious metal, and himself
on the point of starving in the midst of wealth, he
prayed the god to resume his fatal gift. ? Bacchus di-
rected him to bathe in the Pactolua, and hence that
river obtained golden sands. (Otid, Met. , 11, 85,
seqa. -- Hygin. ,fab. , 191. -- Serv. , ad Mn. , 10, 142.
--Max. Tyr. , 30. ) There is a third legend relative
to Midas. Pan, the god of shepherds, venturing to
set his reed-music in opposition to the lyre of Apollo,
was pronounced overcome by Mount Tmolus; and all
present approved the decision except King Midas,
whose ears were, for their obtuseness, lengthened by
the victor to those of an ass. The monarch endeav-
oured to conceal this degradation from his subjects;
but it was perceived by one of his attendants, who,
finding it difficult to keep the secret, yet afraid to re-
veal it, dug a bole in the ground, and whispered there-
in what he had perceived. His words were echoed by
the reeds which afterward grew on the spot, and which
are said to hare repeated, when agitated by the wind,
"Xing- Midas has asses' cart. " (Ovid, Met. , 11, 153,
? ? seqq. )--The legend respecting the wealth of Midas
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? MILETUS.
MiL
Miletjs, 1 a son of Apollo, who fled from Crete
? o avoid falling into the hands of Minos. (Apollod. , 3,
1, 2. ) He came to Caria, and was said to have been
the founder of tho city of Miletus. {Apollod. , I. c. --
Compare Heyne, ad loc. )--II. The most celebrated of
the cities of Ionia, situate on the southern ahore of the
bay into which the river Latmus emptied, and, accord-
ing to Strabo, eighty stadia south of the embouchure
Of the Meander. (Strab. , 634. ) The origin of this
city falls in the period of the first Greek emigrations
from home; but the circumstances connected with its
founding are involved in great uncertainty. As far as
any opinion can be formed from various accounts that
are given of this event, it would appear that the place
was first settled by natives of the country; that to
these came Sarpcdon from Miletus in Crete, and after
him Neleus from Attica, together with other settlers
in process of time. {Strab. , I. c. -- l'ausan , 7, 2. --
Apollod. , 3, l. --Euslalh. ad Dionys. , v. 825. ) Mile-
tus was already large and flourishing when the cities
of the parent country were but just beginning to emerge
from obscurity. The admirable situation of the place,
and the convenience of having four harbours, one of
which was capable of containing a large fleet, gave it
an early and great preponderance in maritime affairs.
It carried on an active and extensive commerce with
the shores of the Euxine on the one hand, and the dis-
tant coast of Spain on the other, to say nothing of the
principal ports of the Mediterranean, which were like-
wise frequented by the Milesian vessels. Its most
important trade, however, was with the shores of the
Euxine. Almost all the Greek cities along the coast
of this inland sea, which were found there at the pe-
riod of the Persian power, were of Milesian origin.
As, however, many of those cities were themselves
conspicuous for size and population, ono can hardly
comprehend how Miletus, in the midst of so active a
traffic, which of itself must have required tho attention
of considerable numbers, could command a superflu-
ous population, sufficiently extensive for the establish-
ment of so many colonies, which Pliny makes to have
been eighty in number, and Seneca seventy-five.
(Plin , 2>>. -- Senec, Consol. ad Hclv. , c. 6. --Consult
Kiimbach. dc Mileto cjusqne Coloniis, Hal. Sax. , 1790.
--Larclur, Hist. d'Hirod. , vol. 8, p. 344, 359. ) It is
more than probable, that, in sending out these colonics,
the natives of the country, the Lydians, Carians, and
Leleges, were invited to join, and did so. --Miletus
was already a powerful city when the Lydian monarchy
rose into consequence. The kings of Lydia, posses-
sors of all the surrounding territory, could not brook
the independence of the Ionian city; they accordingly
carried on war against it for many years, and were at
! imes powerful enough to advance even to thecity walls,
and to destroy or carry otT the produce of the neigh-
bouring country; but they were unable to mar the pros-
perity of a city which bad the control of the sea, and
consequently bade defiance to their power. The Mile-
aiaus appear subsequently to have made a treaty with
Croesus, in which they probably acknowledged that
sovereign as their liege lord, and consented to pay him
tribute. The same treaty was also agreed upon be-
tween them and Cyrus, when the latter had conquered
Lydia; and this saved Miletus from the disaaters which
befell at that time the other Ionian states. {Herod. ,
1,141, 143. ) But it was not always equally fortunate.
In the reign of Dirius, the whole of Ionia was excited
? ? 10 revolt by the intrigues and ambitious schemes of
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? MILO.
MILO.
givm ji hi* voracity is almost incredible. He ate, it
is said, every day, twenty pounds of animal food,
twenty pounds of bread, and drank fifteen pints of
wine. Atheneus relates, that on one occasion he
carried a ste<< lour years old the whole length of the
? tadium at Olympia (606 feet), and then, having cut it
op and cooked it, ate it all up himself in one day.
(Athen. , 10, p. 412, e) Some authorities add, that
he killed it with a single blow of his fist. He had an
opportunity, however, at last, of exerting his prodi-
giojs strength in a more useful manner. One day,
while attending the lectures of Pythagoras, of whom
he was a disciple and constant hearer, the column
which supported the ceiling of the hall where they
Tvere assembled was observed to totter, whereupon
Milo, upholding the entire superstructure by his own
strength, allowed all present an opportunity of esca-
ping, and then saved himself. Milo was crowned
seven times as victor at the Pythian games, and six
times at the Olympic, ar:d he only ceased to present
himself at these contests when he found no one will-
ing to be his opponent. In B. C. 509 he had the
command of the army sent by the people of Crotona
against Sybaris, and gained a signal victory. --His
death was a melancholy one. He was already ad-
vanced in years, when, traversing a forest, he found a
trunk of a tree partly cleft by wedges. Wishing to
sever it entirely, he introduced his hands into the open-
ing, and succeeded so far as to cause the wedges to
fall oat; but his strength here failing him, the separa-
ted parts on a sudden reunited, and his hands remain-
ed imprisoned in the cleft. In this situation he was
devoured by wild beasts. (Aid. Gell ? 15. 16. --Vol.
Max. , 9, 12, 17. )--II. Titus An runs, was a native of
Lanavium in Latium, and was born about 05 B. C.
Hi* family appears to have been a distinguished one,
sine* we find him espousing the daughter of Sylla.
Havi. ig been chosen tribune of the commons B. C. 57,
he aealously exerted himself for the recall of Cicero,
but the violent proceedings of Clodius paralyzed all
his efforts. Determined to put an end to this, he
summoned Clodius to trial as a disturber of the pub-
he peace; but the consul Mctellusdismissed the pros-
ecution, and thus enabled Clodius to resume with im-
punity his unprincipled and daring career. Milo there-
upon found himself compelled, for the sake of his
own personal safety, to keep around him a band of
armed followers. His private resources having suf-
fered greatly by the magnificent games which he had
exhibited, Milo, in order to repair his shattered for-
tunes, married Fausta, the daughter of Svlla; but the
union was an unhappy one; Fausta was discovered to
be unfaithful to his bed, and her paramour, the histo-
rian Sallust, was only allowed to escape after receiving
severe personal chastisement, and paying a large sum
of money to the injured husband. Clodius mean-
while, having obtained the office of tedile, had the as-
surance to accuse Milo in his turn of being a disturber
of the public tranquillity, and of violating the laws by
keeping a body of armed men in his service. Pom-
pey defended the latter; Clodius spoke in reply; and
the whole affair was carried on amid the most violent
clamours from their respective partisans. No decis-
ion, however, was made; the matter was protracted,
znd at last allowed to drop. Some years after this
(B. C. 51) Milo offered himself as a candidate for the
consulship against two other competitors. Clodius,
? ? of course, opposed him; but the powerful exertions of
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? MIL
MILTIADES.
ji raising oppojition to Csesar during that command-
er's absence in Thessaly against Pompey. He adds
that Milo was killed by the blow of a stone while lay.
ing siege to Compsa, a town of tho Hirpini. (C<? . ,
Or. pro Mil. --Veil. Patere. , 2, 47, 66. --Eneyclop.
Metropol. , div. 3, toI. 2, p. 218, seq. --Biogr. Univ. ,
toI. 29, p. 57. )
Miltucis, I. an Athenian, sop of Cypselus, who
obtained a victory in a chariot-race at the Olympic
games, and led a colon" of his countrymen to the
Cbersf testis. The cause of this step on his part was
? singular one. It seems that the Thracian Dolonci,
harassed by a long war with the Absinthians, were di-
rected by the oracle of Delphi to take for their king
the first man they met in their return home, who in-
vited ibem to come under his roof and partake of his
entertainments. The Dolonci, after receiving the or-
>>cle, returned by the sacred way, passed through Pho-
cis and Bceotia, and, not being invited by cither of
these people, turned aside to Athens. Miltiades, as
he sat in this city before the door of his house, ob-
served the Dolonci passing by, and as by their dress
and armour he perceived they were strangers, he call-
ed to them, and offered them the rites of hospitality.
They accepted his kindness, and, being hospitably
treated, revealed to him all the will of the oracle, with
which they entreated his compliance. Miltiades, dis-
posed to listen to them because weary of the tyranny
of Pisistratus, first consulted the oracle of Delphi, and
the answer being favourable, he went with the Dolon-
ci. He was invested by the inhabitants of the Cher-
sonese with sovereign power. The first measure he
took was to stop the farther incursions of the Absin-
thians, by building a wall across the isthmus. When
lie had established himself at home, and fortified his
dominions against foreign invasion, he turned his arms
? gainst Lampsacus. His expedition was unsuccess-
ful; he was taken in an ambuscade, and made pris-
oner. His friend Cropsus, king of Lydia. however,
was informed of his captivity, and procured his release
by threatening the people of Lampsacus with his se-
verest displeasure. He lived a few years after he had
tecovered his liberty. As he had no issue, he left his
kingdom and possessions to Stesagoras, the son of
Cimon, who was his brother by the same mother. The
memory of Miltiades was greatly honoured by the
Dolonci, and they regularly celebrated festivals and
exhibited shows in commemoration of a man to whom
they owed their preservation and greatness. (Herod. ,
6, 38. --Id. , 6, 103. )--II. A nephew of the former, and
brother of Stesagoras.
His brother, who had been
adopted by Miltiades the elder, having died without
issue, Miltiades the younger, though he had not, like
Stesagoras, an interest established during the life of
his predecessor, and though tho Chersonese waa not
by law an hereditary principality, was still sent by the
Pisistratidie thither with a galley. By a mixture of
fraud and force he succeeded in securing the tyranny.
On his srrival at the Chersonese, he appeared mourn-
ful, as if lamenting the recent death of his brother.
The principal inhabitants of the country visited the
new governor to condole with him, but their confidence
in his sincerity proved fatal to them. Miltiades seiz-
ed their persons, and made himself absolute in Cher-
sonesus; and, to strengthen himself, he married He-
gesipyla, the daughter of Olorus, king of the Thra-
eiana. When Darius marched against the Scythians,
? ? Miltiades submitted to him and followed in his train,
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? M 1M
MIN
men, Irom ihe wanior-like MiliiaJcs and Themistocles,
to ihe warlike rhetorician Pericles, and thence to the
orator, who to his rhetorical skill united no military
prowess. Milliades, with great generalship, showed
groat power as a statesman, and some, but not much,
aa an orator. This is agreeable to his age. Wheth-
er be was a true patriot, governed by high principle,
it is new impossible to determine. He achieved one
peat action, which for his country produced a most
decisive result. The unfortunate close of his career
may be regarded by some as showing the ingratitude
of democracies; but perhaps a judicious historian will
draw no conclusion of the kind, especially with so
imperfect materials before him as we possess of the
life of this illustrious Athenian. If the Athenians
conceived that nothing he had done for them ought
to raise him above the laws; if they even thought
that his services had been sufficiently rewarded by the
station which enabled him to perform them, and by
the glory he reaped from them, they were not un-
grateful or unjust; and if Miltiades thought other-
wise, he had not learned to live in a free state. (Me-
nd , lib. 5 el 6 -- Corn. Nep. , Vit. Mill. --Encyd.
Vs. Knotel. , vol. 15, p. m. --Tkirlwall's Greece,
vol. 2, p. 246. )
Milto. Vid. Aspasia II.
Milvius Pons, a bridge about two miles from
Kome, over the Tiber, in a northerly direction. It
was also called Mulvius. Its construction is ascribed
to M. . -Emilius Scaurus, who was censor A. U. C. 644,
and its ancient appellation is probably a corruption of
bis nonun. The modern name is Ponte Molle. If it
as true that the bridge owed its erection to . /Emilius,
Lrvy, when he speaks of it (27,51), must be supposed
to mention it by anticipation. We learn from Cicero
that the Pons Mulvius existed at the time of Catiline's
conspiracy, since the dej Jties of the Allobroges were
here seized by his orders. In later times, it witnessed
the defeat of Maxentius by Constantine. (Zosim. , 2,
JO. -- Cramer's Anc. Jraiy, vol. 1, r\ 239. )
Mn. v is. Vid. Lycia.
Mimallones, a name given to the priestesses of
Bacchus among the Thracians, according to Hesy-
chius and Suidas, or, more correctly, to the female Bac-
chantes in general. Suidas deduces the term from
the Greek /ufinoic, "imitation" because the Baccha-
nals, under the influence of the god, imitated in their
wild fury the actions of men. Others, however, de-
rive it from Mimas, a mountain of Thrace. Nonnus
enumerates the Mimallones among the companions of
Bacchus in his Indian expedition. (Compare Persius,
Sal. , 1, 99. -- Ovid, A. A. , 1, 541. -- Sidon. , Free/.
Paneg. Anthem. ) Bochart gives as the etymology of
? he word the Hebrew Memallelan (" garrulse," "lo-
nuaculas"); or else Mamal, "a wine-press. " (Rolle,
Reeherchcs sur le culte de Bacchus, vol. 1, p. 136. )
Mimas, I. one of the giants that warred against the
gods. (Compare Eurip. , Ion, 215. -- Senec, Here.
r*ur. ,981. --Apoll. Rhod. , 3, 1227. )--II. A mountain
range of Ionia, terminating in the promontory Argen-
num, opposite the lower extremity of Chios. (Thu-
csjd. , 8, 34 -- Plin. ,5, 29. --Amm. Marc, 31, 42. )
Mimnermus, an elegiac poet, a native of Colophon
In Ionia, and contemporary with Solon. Miiller, quo-
ting a fragment of Mimnermus' elegy entitled " Nan-
no," says that he was one of the colonists of Smyrna
from Colophon, and whose ancestors, at a still earlier
? ? period, came from Nclean Pylos. (Hist. Lit. Gr. ,
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? M IN
M, or to -heir wont of mechanical contrivances, or to
their knowledge that a compact and globular body is
least liable to loss from friction, the Athenian coin
was minted in a form more massive than our own,
and nuch less convenient for tale or transfer, hut bet-
ter calci luted to maintain its value unimpaired by the
wear of constant circulation. --The only question that
remain? to be considered here is this: to what cause
wis it owing that the coins of Athens should have
bein executed tnroughout in a style of inelegance and
etir. 'ciiesa, a* a time, loo, when the coins of other
antrijts, far inferior in scienco and reputation to
A'. hcia, were finished in the most perfect workman-
ship 1 Tho fact is certainly remarkable; and the
only explanation that has hitherto been given of it,
may tend to illustrate still farther the beneficial effects
of commerce in its influence on the Athenian mint.
The ancient coinage, says Eckhel, had recommended
itself so strongly by its purity, and had become so
universally known among Greeks and barbarians by
its primitive emblems, that it would have been im-
possible to have made any considerable change in the
form or workmanship of the coin, without creating a
degree of suspicion against it, and eventually con-
tracting its circulation. (Walpote's Collection, vol. 1,
p. 433. --Cardwcll's Lectures, p. 9, scqq. )
Mincius, now Mineio, a river of Gallia Cisalpina,
flowing from the Lake Benacus, and falling into the
Po. ( Vtrg. , Eclog. , 7, 13. -- Id. , Georg. , 3, 15%-Id. ,
JEn, 10, 206. )
Miskiuks or Minykidzs, the daughters of Minyas,
king of Orchomonus, in Bccotia. They were three in
number, Leucippe, Aristippe, and Alcathoe. These
females derided the rites of Bacchus, and continued
plying their looms, while the other women ran through
the mountains. Bacchus came as a maiden and re-
monstrated, but in vain; he then assumed the form
of various wild beasts; serpents filled their baskets;
vinos and ivy twined round their looms, while wine
tnd milk distilled from the roof; but their obstinacy
was unsubdued. He finally drove them mad; they
torn to pieces the son of Leucippe, and then went roam-
ing through the mountains, till Mercury touched them
with his wand, and turned them into a bat, an owl,
and a crow. (Corinna el Nicand. , ap. Anton. Lib. , 10.
--AZlian, V. H. , 3, 42. -- Ovid, Met. , 4, 1, scqq. --
Keightley's Mythology, p. 213. )
Minerva, an ancient Italian divinity, the same in
general with tho Pallas-Athene (IlaX/iac 'kdijvn) of
the Greeks, and to bo considered, therefore, in com-
mon with her, in one and the same article. --Minerva
or Athene was regarded in the popular mythology as
the goddess of wisdom and skill, and, in a word, cf
all the liberal arts and sciences. In both the Homeric
poems she is spoken of as the daughter of Jupiter, and
Li one place it seems to be intimated that she had no
other parent. (It. , 5, 875, tcqq. ) In later writers,
however, the legend assumes a more extended form.
It is said that Jupiter, after his union with Metis, was
informed by Heaven and Earth that the first child born
from this marriage, a maiden, would equal him in
strength and counsel; and that the second, a son,
would bo king of gods and men. Alarmed at this
prediction, the monarch of Olympus swallowed bis
spouse, who was thsn pregnant; but being seized,
after a ". irts, with racking pains in the head, the god
aummcrvxi >> uinar. to his aid, who, in obedience to the
commands of Jupiter, cleft the head of the latter with
? ? a blow jf his brazen hatchet, and Minerva immediate-
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? MINERVA.
? he had long been regarded ? ? the tutelary dc. ly of
Athens. We may therefore safely reject the legends
? f l>>f_ being the same with the Ne'ith (Hesych. , NVftj)
of Sais in Egypt, or a war-goddess imported from the
banks of the Lake Tritonis in Libya, and view in her
one of the deities worshipped by the agricultural Pe-
lagians, and therefore probably one of the powers
engaged in causing the productiveness of the earth.
Her being represented, in the poetic creed, as the
goddess of arts and war alone, is merely a transition
from physical to moral agents, that will presently be
explained. (Miller, Proleg. , p. 244. --Sckwenck,'An-
ient. , p. 230. -- Welcker, Tril. , p. 282. )--The etymol-
ogy of the Latin name Minerva is doubtful. The first
part probably contains the same root (min, men, or
man) that we have in the Latin me-mini,mcn-s. Sec,
and also in the Greek piUtoc, pi-fiv^-onu, &c, and
the Sanscrit man-as. Cicero (N. D. , 3, 24) gives a
very curious etymology, "Minerva, quia minuit, aul
suio minalur;"' but some of the ancient grammarians
appear to have been more rational in considering it a
shortened form of Mcmincrva, since she was also the
goddess of memory. Festus connects it with the verb
monere. Miillcr supposes that the word, like the wor-
ship of the goddess herself, came to the Romans from
Elruria, and he makes the Etrurian original to have
been Menerfa or Mtnrfa. (Etrusk. , vol. 2, p. 48. )--
There were some peculiarities in the worship of Mi-
nerva by the Romans that deserve to be mentioned.
Her statue was usually placed in schools; and the
pupils were accustomed every year to present their
masters with a gift called Minerval. (Varro, R. R. ,
3. 2. --Compare Tcrtull. , de Idol. , c. 10.
