above
respecting
the age of Meletus, there seems no (Apollod.
William Smith - 1844 - Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities - b
551).
general, see Clinton, F.
H.
vol.
ii.
p.
xxxvi.
; Welcker,
He was also ridiculed by Sannyrion in his réaws die Griech. Trag. pp. 872–874 ; Kayser, Hist.
(Athen. I. c. ); and his erotic poetry was referred to Crit. Trag. Gruec. pp. 284, 285. Plato makes
by Epicrates in his 'Avridats (Athen. xiii. p. 605, e. ). Socrates pun upon the name several times in the
Suidas (s. v. ) calls him an orator as well as a poet, Apology (p. 24, c. d. , 25, c. , 26, d. ). [P. S. ]
no doubt on account of his accusation of Socrates, MELIA (Mería), a nymph,' a daughter of
and perhaps of Andocides. (See below. )
Oceanus, became by Inachus the mother of Phoro-
The character of Meletus, as drawn by Plato neus and Aegialeus or Pegeus. (Apollod. ii. 1. $ 1 ;
and Aristophanes and their scholiasts, is that of a Schol. ad Eurip. Orest. 9:20. ) By Seilenus she
bad, frigid, and licentious poet, and a worthless became the mother of the centaur, Pholus (Apollod.
and profligate man,—vain, silly, effeminate, and ii. 5. & 4), and by Poseidon of Amycus. (Apollon.
grossly sensual. Plato makes Socrates call him Rhod. ii. 4 ; Serv. ad Acm, v. 373. ) She was
τετανότριχα και ου πάνυ ευγένειον, επίγρυπον δέ. | carried of by Apollo, and became by him the
Aristophanes, in the Inpuráðns, ridiculed him for mother of Ismenius (some call her own brother
his excessive thinness, and light weight, and his Ismenus, Schol. ad Pind. Pyth. xi. 5 ; Tzetz. ad
natural tendency to the infernal regions, where, as Lyc. 1211), and of the seer Tenerus. She was
Thirlwall remarks, “ to understand the point of the worshipped in the Apollinian sanctuary, the Isme-
sarcasm, we must compare the balancing scene in nium, near Thebes. (Paus. ix. 10. 05, 26, § 1;
the Frogs, and the remarks of Aeschylus, 867, Strab. p. 413. )
ότι η ποίησις ουχί συντέθνηκέ μοι, τούτω δε συν- In the plural form Mediai or Mercedes is the
Téllunker" (Hist. of Greece, vol. iv. p. 275, note). name of the nymphs, who, along with the Gigantes
Aristophanes again, in the Denapyol, calls him the son and Erinnyes, sprang from the drops of blood that
of Laïus, a designation which not only contains an fell from Uranus, and which were received by Gaea.
allusion to his Oedipodeia, but is also meant to insi. (Hes. Theog. 187. ) The nymphs that nursed Zeus
nuate a charge of the grossest vice (see Meineke, are likewise called Meliae. (Callim. Hymn. in
ad loc. , Frag. Com. Graec. vol. ii. pp. 1126, 1127). Jov. 47; Eustath. ad Hom. p. 1963. ) [L. S. ]
Misled by this passage, Suidas (s. v. Méxitos) makes MELIADES (Mediades), the same as the Ma-
him a son of Laïus (as Clinton has corrected the liades, or nymphs of the district of Melis, near
word from Adpov); the real name of his father Trachis. (Soph. Philoct. 715. ) [L. S. ]
was Meletus, as we learn from Diogenes Laërtius, MELIBOEA (Menibo. a. ) 1. A daughter of
on the authority of Phavorinus, in whose time the Oceanus, and, by Pelasgus, the mother of Lycaon.
deed of accusation against Socrates was still pre- (Apollod. iii. 8. & 1. )
served in the Metroum at Athens (Diog. Laërt. ii. 2. A daughter of Magnes, who called the town
40). The epithet Opał, applied to him by Aris- of Meliboea, in Magnesia, after her. (Eustath.
tophanes, in the fragment just referred to, probably ad Hom. p. 338. )
alludes to the foreign origin of his family.
3. One of the daughters of Niobe. (Apollod.
In the accusation of Socrates it was Meletus iii. 5. § 6; Paus, ii. 21, § 10. )
who laid the indictment before the Archon Basi- 4. An Ephesian maiden who was in love with a
leus ; but in reality he was the most insignificant youth of the name of Alexis. As, however, her
;
of the accusers ; and according to one account he parents had destined her for another man, Alexis
was bribed by Anytus and Lycon to take part in quitted his native place ; and on the day of her
the affair. (Liban. Apol. pp. 11, 51, ed. Reiske. ) marriage Meliboea threw herself from the roof of
Soon after the death of Socrates, the Athenians her house. But she was not injured, and escaped
repented of their injustice, and Meletus was stoned to a boat which was lying near, and the ropes of
to death as one of the authors of their folly. (Diog. which became untied of their own accord. The
Laërt. ii. 43; Diod. xiv. 37 ; Suid. s. v. Méstos: boat then carried her to her beloved Alexis. The
it may here be observed that the article in Suidas united happy lovers now dedicated a sanctuary to
is a mass of confusion ; there is evidently in it a Aphrodite, surnamed Automate and Epidaetia (Serv.
mixing up of the lives of two different persons, ad Aen. i. 724. )
Melissus of Samos and Meletus. )
5. The mother of Ajax, and wife of Theseus.
There is room for some doubt whether the ac- (Athen. xii. p. 557. )
cuser of Socrates was the same person as the Me- Meliboea occurs also as a surname of Persephone.
letus who was charged with participation in the (Lasus, ap. Athen. xiv. p. 624. ) [L. S. )
profanation of the mysteries, and in the inutilation MELICERTES (Mediképtns), a son of Athamas
of the Hermae, B. C. 415, and who was an active and Ino, was metamorphosed into a marine divi-
partizan of the Thirty Tyrants, both as the execu- nity, under the name of Palaemon. (Apollod. i. 9.
tioner of their sentence of death upon Leon of Sa- & 5; comp. ATHAMAS, PALAEMON, and Leu-
lamis, and as an emissary to Lacedaemon on their COTHEA. )
[L. S. ]
behalf, and who was afterwards one of the accusers MELINAEA (Melsvala), a surname of Aphro-
of Andocides in the case respecting the mysteries, dite, which she derived from the Argive town Me
B. C. 400 (Andoc. de Myst. pp. 7, 18, 46, Reiske ; line. (Steph. Byz. s. v. ; Lycoph. 403. ) [L. S. }
Xen. Hel. ij. 4. $ 36): but as all this is perfectly MELINE (Medivn), a daughter of Thespius,
consistent with the indications we have noticed became by Heracles the mother of Laomedon.
above respecting the age of Meletus, there seems no (Apollod. ji. 7. $ 8. )
(L. S. )
good ground for distinguishing the two persons, MELINNO (MALVÁ), a lyric poetess, the
though they cannot be identified with absolute author of an ode on Rome in five Sapphic stanzas,
certainty. (Droysen, Rhein. Mus. rol. iii. p. 190. ), which is commonly ascribed to Erinna of Lesbos.
Respecting the form of the name, Méantos is Nothing is known of her with certainty, except
almost universally adopted by modern scholars, what the ode itself shows, namely, that she lived in
:
## p. 1022 (#1038) ##########################################
1022
MELISSENUS.
MELISSUS.
made the first
wards carrie
and spacity
knowledge
keires contra
actual world
Meisses are
tations EN
br Mciach,
Goryia Dries
påorean frag
MELISS
of Teresiada
turbo congue
games, and i
the flourishing period of the Roman empire. The MELISSEUS (Μελισσεύς or Μέλισσος), an
ode is printed, with an admirable essay upon it, ancient king of Crete, who, by Amalthea, became
by Welcker, in Creuzer's Meletemata, 1817, p. 1, the father of the nymphs Adrastea and Ida, to
and in Welcker's Kleine Schrifien, vol. ii. p. whom Rhea entrusted the infant Zeus to be
160.
[P. S. ) bronght up. (Apollod. i. 1. § 6; Hygin. Poct.
MELISANDER (Medioavopos), of Miletus, is Astr. ii. 13. ) Other accounts call the daughters
said to have written an account of the battles of of this king Melissa and Amalthen. (Lactant. i.
the Lapithac and Centaurs, and is classed by 22. )
(L. S. )
Aelian with the poets Oroebantius and Dares, who MELISSEUS (Medido EÚs), a Greek writer
are stated to have been the predecessors of Homer. uncertain date, wrote a work entitled Aclouká.
(Aelian, V. II. xi. 2. )
(Tzetz. Chil. vi. 90 ; Schol. in Hesiod. p. 29, ed.
MELISSA (Mériooa), that is, the soother or Oxon. )
propitiator (from uenloow or uersioow), occurs, MELISSUS (Mémocos), of Samos, a Greek
1. As the name of a nymph who discovered and philosopher, the son of Ithagenes, is said to have
taught the use of honey, and from whom bees were been likewise distinguished as a statesman, and to
believed to have received their name, Méalooar, have commanded the fleet which first conquered a
(Schol. ad Pind. Pyth. iv. 104. ) Bees seem to part of the Athenian armament which blockaded
have been the symbol of nymphs, whence they the island under the command of Pericles ; but it
themselves are sometimes called Melissae, and are is stated afterwards that he was conquered by
sometimes said to have been metamorphosed into Pericles, in Ol. 85. Thucydides does not mention
bees. (Schol. ad Pind. l. c. ; Hesych. s. r. 'Opo Melissus. (Plut. Pericl. 26, 27; comp. Themist.
oeuvíades ; Columell. ix. 2 ; Schol. ad Theocrit. iii. 2, adv. Colot. 32. ) This account is supported by
13. ) Hence also nymphs in the form of bees are the statement of Apollodorus, that Melissus fou-
said to have guided the colonists that went to rished in Ol. 84; but it is irreconcilable with the
Ephesus (Philostr. Icon. ii. 8); and the nymphs account which represents him as personally con-
who nursed the infant Zeus are called Melissae, or nected with Heracleitus, who lived at a much
Meliae. (Anton. Lib. 19 ; Callim. Hymn. in Jov. earlier period. (Diog. Laërt. ix. 24. ) There seems
47 ; Apollod. i. 1. $ 3. )
to be less reason for doubting that he was a dis-
2. From the nymphs the name Melissae was ciple of Parmenides, and it is quite certain that he
transferred to priestesses in general, but more was acquainted with the doctrines of the Eleatics,
especially to those of Demeter (Schol. ad Pind. l. c. ; which in fact he completely adopted, though he
Callim. Hymn. in Apoll. 110; Hesych. s. v. Mé took up the letter rather than the spirit of their
nivoai), Persephone (Schol. ad Theocrit. xv. 94), system, as is proved by the fragments of his work,
and to the priestess of the Delphian Apollo. (Pind. which was written in prose, and in the Ionic
Pyth. iv. 106 ; Schol. ad Eurip. Hippol. 72. ) Ac dialect. They have been preserved by Simplicius,
cording to the schuliasts of Pindar and Euripides, and their genuineness is attested by the work of
priestesses received the name Melissae from the Aristotle or Theophrastus. He proves that the
purity of the bee. Comp. a story about the origin coming into existence and the annihilation of any
of bees in Serv. ad Aen. i. 434.
thing that exists are both inconceivable, whether
3. Melissa is also a surname of Artemis as the it be supposed that it arises from a non-existence
goddess of the moon, in which capacity she alle or from some existence. But even here Melissus
vintes the suffering of women in childbed. (Por- is unable to maintain the pure idea of existence,
phyr. De Antr. Nymph. p. 261. )
which we find in Parmenides, for he denies that
4. A daughter of Epidamnus, became by Posei- existence, and still more absolute existence (TÒ
don the mother of Dyrrhachius, from whom the annws eóv) can arise from non-existence. Parme-
town of Dyrrhachium derived its name. (Steph. nides could not have admitted the difference of de-
Byz. S. ο. Δυρράχιον. )
[L. S. ] grees of existence, which is here assumed, any
MELISSA (Méndoa), the wife of Periander, more than the parts of existence which Melissus
tyrant of Corinth. She was the daughter of Procles, assumes as possible, or at least as not absolutely
tyrant of Epidaurus, and Eristheneia ; and, accord- opposed to the idea, since he thinks it necessary to
ing to Diogenes Laërtius (i. 94), was called Lysis prove that no part of existence could have come
before her marriage, and received the name Me into existence any more than existence itself.
lissa from Periander. She bore two sons, Cypselus (Simplic. in Aristot. Phys. f. 22, b; Aristot. De
and Lycophron, and her husband was passionately Xenoph. Gorg. et Meliss. 1. ) The inference of
attached to her ; but in a fit of jealousy, produced Melissus which now follows, that things which
by the slanderous tales of some courtesans, he have neither beginning nor end must be infinite
killed her in a barbarous manner. [PERIANDER. ] and unlimited in magnitude, and accordingly one
From the story of the appearance of the shade of (ibid. and Simplic. f. 23, b. fragm. 2 and 7-10;
Melissa to the ambassadors sent by Periander to in Brandis, Commentat. Eleatic. ), is manifestly
consult the oracle of the dead among the Thespro- erroneous, since, without even attempting a media-
tians, and the mode in which Periander sought to tion, he assumes infinitude of space in things which
appease her, we may gather that he sought to still have no beginning or end in time. The simplicity
his remorse by the rites of a dark and barbarous of existence be infers from its unity, and he appears
superstition: he took a horrible revenge on those to have endeavoured very minutely to show that
who had instigated him to the murder of his wife. no change could take place either in quantity or
(Herod. iii. 50, v. 92; Athen. xiii. p. 589, f. ; quality, and neither internal nor external motion.
Diog. Laërt. i. 94 ; Plut. Sept. Sap. Conv. p. 146. ) | (Fr. 4. 11, &c. ; Aristot. L. c. ) From this he then
Pausanias (ii. 28. S 8) mentions a monument in argued backwards, and assumed the impossibility
memory of Melissa, near Epidaurus.
He was also ridiculed by Sannyrion in his réaws die Griech. Trag. pp. 872–874 ; Kayser, Hist.
(Athen. I. c. ); and his erotic poetry was referred to Crit. Trag. Gruec. pp. 284, 285. Plato makes
by Epicrates in his 'Avridats (Athen. xiii. p. 605, e. ). Socrates pun upon the name several times in the
Suidas (s. v. ) calls him an orator as well as a poet, Apology (p. 24, c. d. , 25, c. , 26, d. ). [P. S. ]
no doubt on account of his accusation of Socrates, MELIA (Mería), a nymph,' a daughter of
and perhaps of Andocides. (See below. )
Oceanus, became by Inachus the mother of Phoro-
The character of Meletus, as drawn by Plato neus and Aegialeus or Pegeus. (Apollod. ii. 1. $ 1 ;
and Aristophanes and their scholiasts, is that of a Schol. ad Eurip. Orest. 9:20. ) By Seilenus she
bad, frigid, and licentious poet, and a worthless became the mother of the centaur, Pholus (Apollod.
and profligate man,—vain, silly, effeminate, and ii. 5. & 4), and by Poseidon of Amycus. (Apollon.
grossly sensual. Plato makes Socrates call him Rhod. ii. 4 ; Serv. ad Acm, v. 373. ) She was
τετανότριχα και ου πάνυ ευγένειον, επίγρυπον δέ. | carried of by Apollo, and became by him the
Aristophanes, in the Inpuráðns, ridiculed him for mother of Ismenius (some call her own brother
his excessive thinness, and light weight, and his Ismenus, Schol. ad Pind. Pyth. xi. 5 ; Tzetz. ad
natural tendency to the infernal regions, where, as Lyc. 1211), and of the seer Tenerus. She was
Thirlwall remarks, “ to understand the point of the worshipped in the Apollinian sanctuary, the Isme-
sarcasm, we must compare the balancing scene in nium, near Thebes. (Paus. ix. 10. 05, 26, § 1;
the Frogs, and the remarks of Aeschylus, 867, Strab. p. 413. )
ότι η ποίησις ουχί συντέθνηκέ μοι, τούτω δε συν- In the plural form Mediai or Mercedes is the
Téllunker" (Hist. of Greece, vol. iv. p. 275, note). name of the nymphs, who, along with the Gigantes
Aristophanes again, in the Denapyol, calls him the son and Erinnyes, sprang from the drops of blood that
of Laïus, a designation which not only contains an fell from Uranus, and which were received by Gaea.
allusion to his Oedipodeia, but is also meant to insi. (Hes. Theog. 187. ) The nymphs that nursed Zeus
nuate a charge of the grossest vice (see Meineke, are likewise called Meliae. (Callim. Hymn. in
ad loc. , Frag. Com. Graec. vol. ii. pp. 1126, 1127). Jov. 47; Eustath. ad Hom. p. 1963. ) [L. S. ]
Misled by this passage, Suidas (s. v. Méxitos) makes MELIADES (Mediades), the same as the Ma-
him a son of Laïus (as Clinton has corrected the liades, or nymphs of the district of Melis, near
word from Adpov); the real name of his father Trachis. (Soph. Philoct. 715. ) [L. S. ]
was Meletus, as we learn from Diogenes Laërtius, MELIBOEA (Menibo. a. ) 1. A daughter of
on the authority of Phavorinus, in whose time the Oceanus, and, by Pelasgus, the mother of Lycaon.
deed of accusation against Socrates was still pre- (Apollod. iii. 8. & 1. )
served in the Metroum at Athens (Diog. Laërt. ii. 2. A daughter of Magnes, who called the town
40). The epithet Opał, applied to him by Aris- of Meliboea, in Magnesia, after her. (Eustath.
tophanes, in the fragment just referred to, probably ad Hom. p. 338. )
alludes to the foreign origin of his family.
3. One of the daughters of Niobe. (Apollod.
In the accusation of Socrates it was Meletus iii. 5. § 6; Paus, ii. 21, § 10. )
who laid the indictment before the Archon Basi- 4. An Ephesian maiden who was in love with a
leus ; but in reality he was the most insignificant youth of the name of Alexis. As, however, her
;
of the accusers ; and according to one account he parents had destined her for another man, Alexis
was bribed by Anytus and Lycon to take part in quitted his native place ; and on the day of her
the affair. (Liban. Apol. pp. 11, 51, ed. Reiske. ) marriage Meliboea threw herself from the roof of
Soon after the death of Socrates, the Athenians her house. But she was not injured, and escaped
repented of their injustice, and Meletus was stoned to a boat which was lying near, and the ropes of
to death as one of the authors of their folly. (Diog. which became untied of their own accord. The
Laërt. ii. 43; Diod. xiv. 37 ; Suid. s. v. Méstos: boat then carried her to her beloved Alexis. The
it may here be observed that the article in Suidas united happy lovers now dedicated a sanctuary to
is a mass of confusion ; there is evidently in it a Aphrodite, surnamed Automate and Epidaetia (Serv.
mixing up of the lives of two different persons, ad Aen. i. 724. )
Melissus of Samos and Meletus. )
5. The mother of Ajax, and wife of Theseus.
There is room for some doubt whether the ac- (Athen. xii. p. 557. )
cuser of Socrates was the same person as the Me- Meliboea occurs also as a surname of Persephone.
letus who was charged with participation in the (Lasus, ap. Athen. xiv. p. 624. ) [L. S. )
profanation of the mysteries, and in the inutilation MELICERTES (Mediképtns), a son of Athamas
of the Hermae, B. C. 415, and who was an active and Ino, was metamorphosed into a marine divi-
partizan of the Thirty Tyrants, both as the execu- nity, under the name of Palaemon. (Apollod. i. 9.
tioner of their sentence of death upon Leon of Sa- & 5; comp. ATHAMAS, PALAEMON, and Leu-
lamis, and as an emissary to Lacedaemon on their COTHEA. )
[L. S. ]
behalf, and who was afterwards one of the accusers MELINAEA (Melsvala), a surname of Aphro-
of Andocides in the case respecting the mysteries, dite, which she derived from the Argive town Me
B. C. 400 (Andoc. de Myst. pp. 7, 18, 46, Reiske ; line. (Steph. Byz. s. v. ; Lycoph. 403. ) [L. S. }
Xen. Hel. ij. 4. $ 36): but as all this is perfectly MELINE (Medivn), a daughter of Thespius,
consistent with the indications we have noticed became by Heracles the mother of Laomedon.
above respecting the age of Meletus, there seems no (Apollod. ji. 7. $ 8. )
(L. S. )
good ground for distinguishing the two persons, MELINNO (MALVÁ), a lyric poetess, the
though they cannot be identified with absolute author of an ode on Rome in five Sapphic stanzas,
certainty. (Droysen, Rhein. Mus. rol. iii. p. 190. ), which is commonly ascribed to Erinna of Lesbos.
Respecting the form of the name, Méantos is Nothing is known of her with certainty, except
almost universally adopted by modern scholars, what the ode itself shows, namely, that she lived in
:
## p. 1022 (#1038) ##########################################
1022
MELISSENUS.
MELISSUS.
made the first
wards carrie
and spacity
knowledge
keires contra
actual world
Meisses are
tations EN
br Mciach,
Goryia Dries
påorean frag
MELISS
of Teresiada
turbo congue
games, and i
the flourishing period of the Roman empire. The MELISSEUS (Μελισσεύς or Μέλισσος), an
ode is printed, with an admirable essay upon it, ancient king of Crete, who, by Amalthea, became
by Welcker, in Creuzer's Meletemata, 1817, p. 1, the father of the nymphs Adrastea and Ida, to
and in Welcker's Kleine Schrifien, vol. ii. p. whom Rhea entrusted the infant Zeus to be
160.
[P. S. ) bronght up. (Apollod. i. 1. § 6; Hygin. Poct.
MELISANDER (Medioavopos), of Miletus, is Astr. ii. 13. ) Other accounts call the daughters
said to have written an account of the battles of of this king Melissa and Amalthen. (Lactant. i.
the Lapithac and Centaurs, and is classed by 22. )
(L. S. )
Aelian with the poets Oroebantius and Dares, who MELISSEUS (Medido EÚs), a Greek writer
are stated to have been the predecessors of Homer. uncertain date, wrote a work entitled Aclouká.
(Aelian, V. II. xi. 2. )
(Tzetz. Chil. vi. 90 ; Schol. in Hesiod. p. 29, ed.
MELISSA (Mériooa), that is, the soother or Oxon. )
propitiator (from uenloow or uersioow), occurs, MELISSUS (Mémocos), of Samos, a Greek
1. As the name of a nymph who discovered and philosopher, the son of Ithagenes, is said to have
taught the use of honey, and from whom bees were been likewise distinguished as a statesman, and to
believed to have received their name, Méalooar, have commanded the fleet which first conquered a
(Schol. ad Pind. Pyth. iv. 104. ) Bees seem to part of the Athenian armament which blockaded
have been the symbol of nymphs, whence they the island under the command of Pericles ; but it
themselves are sometimes called Melissae, and are is stated afterwards that he was conquered by
sometimes said to have been metamorphosed into Pericles, in Ol. 85. Thucydides does not mention
bees. (Schol. ad Pind. l. c. ; Hesych. s. r. 'Opo Melissus. (Plut. Pericl. 26, 27; comp. Themist.
oeuvíades ; Columell. ix. 2 ; Schol. ad Theocrit. iii. 2, adv. Colot. 32. ) This account is supported by
13. ) Hence also nymphs in the form of bees are the statement of Apollodorus, that Melissus fou-
said to have guided the colonists that went to rished in Ol. 84; but it is irreconcilable with the
Ephesus (Philostr. Icon. ii. 8); and the nymphs account which represents him as personally con-
who nursed the infant Zeus are called Melissae, or nected with Heracleitus, who lived at a much
Meliae. (Anton. Lib. 19 ; Callim. Hymn. in Jov. earlier period. (Diog. Laërt. ix. 24. ) There seems
47 ; Apollod. i. 1. $ 3. )
to be less reason for doubting that he was a dis-
2. From the nymphs the name Melissae was ciple of Parmenides, and it is quite certain that he
transferred to priestesses in general, but more was acquainted with the doctrines of the Eleatics,
especially to those of Demeter (Schol. ad Pind. l. c. ; which in fact he completely adopted, though he
Callim. Hymn. in Apoll. 110; Hesych. s. v. Mé took up the letter rather than the spirit of their
nivoai), Persephone (Schol. ad Theocrit. xv. 94), system, as is proved by the fragments of his work,
and to the priestess of the Delphian Apollo. (Pind. which was written in prose, and in the Ionic
Pyth. iv. 106 ; Schol. ad Eurip. Hippol. 72. ) Ac dialect. They have been preserved by Simplicius,
cording to the schuliasts of Pindar and Euripides, and their genuineness is attested by the work of
priestesses received the name Melissae from the Aristotle or Theophrastus. He proves that the
purity of the bee. Comp. a story about the origin coming into existence and the annihilation of any
of bees in Serv. ad Aen. i. 434.
thing that exists are both inconceivable, whether
3. Melissa is also a surname of Artemis as the it be supposed that it arises from a non-existence
goddess of the moon, in which capacity she alle or from some existence. But even here Melissus
vintes the suffering of women in childbed. (Por- is unable to maintain the pure idea of existence,
phyr. De Antr. Nymph. p. 261. )
which we find in Parmenides, for he denies that
4. A daughter of Epidamnus, became by Posei- existence, and still more absolute existence (TÒ
don the mother of Dyrrhachius, from whom the annws eóv) can arise from non-existence. Parme-
town of Dyrrhachium derived its name. (Steph. nides could not have admitted the difference of de-
Byz. S. ο. Δυρράχιον. )
[L. S. ] grees of existence, which is here assumed, any
MELISSA (Méndoa), the wife of Periander, more than the parts of existence which Melissus
tyrant of Corinth. She was the daughter of Procles, assumes as possible, or at least as not absolutely
tyrant of Epidaurus, and Eristheneia ; and, accord- opposed to the idea, since he thinks it necessary to
ing to Diogenes Laërtius (i. 94), was called Lysis prove that no part of existence could have come
before her marriage, and received the name Me into existence any more than existence itself.
lissa from Periander. She bore two sons, Cypselus (Simplic. in Aristot. Phys. f. 22, b; Aristot. De
and Lycophron, and her husband was passionately Xenoph. Gorg. et Meliss. 1. ) The inference of
attached to her ; but in a fit of jealousy, produced Melissus which now follows, that things which
by the slanderous tales of some courtesans, he have neither beginning nor end must be infinite
killed her in a barbarous manner. [PERIANDER. ] and unlimited in magnitude, and accordingly one
From the story of the appearance of the shade of (ibid. and Simplic. f. 23, b. fragm. 2 and 7-10;
Melissa to the ambassadors sent by Periander to in Brandis, Commentat. Eleatic. ), is manifestly
consult the oracle of the dead among the Thespro- erroneous, since, without even attempting a media-
tians, and the mode in which Periander sought to tion, he assumes infinitude of space in things which
appease her, we may gather that he sought to still have no beginning or end in time. The simplicity
his remorse by the rites of a dark and barbarous of existence be infers from its unity, and he appears
superstition: he took a horrible revenge on those to have endeavoured very minutely to show that
who had instigated him to the murder of his wife. no change could take place either in quantity or
(Herod. iii. 50, v. 92; Athen. xiii. p. 589, f. ; quality, and neither internal nor external motion.
Diog. Laërt. i. 94 ; Plut. Sept. Sap. Conv. p. 146. ) | (Fr. 4. 11, &c. ; Aristot. L. c. ) From this he then
Pausanias (ii. 28. S 8) mentions a monument in argued backwards, and assumed the impossibility
memory of Melissa, near Epidaurus.
