During
the most important and arduous periods of his admin-
istration, and while exercising an almost unremitting
assiduity, Maecenas had still the appearance of being
sunk in sloth and luxury.
the most important and arduous periods of his admin-
istration, and while exercising an almost unremitting
assiduity, Maecenas had still the appearance of being
sunk in sloth and luxury.
Charles - 1867 - Classical Dictionary
, Eng.
transl.
--Cramer's Anc. Greece, vol. 1, p. 164, scqq. -- En-
tyel. Us. Knotci, vol. 14, p. 241. )--For a list of the
ancient kings of Macedonia, with remarks on their
leign consult Clinton's Fasli Hcllcnici, p. 221, seqq. ,
U ed.
Macer, I. a Latin poet, a native of Verona. He
was the author of a poem on birds, entitled Ornitho-
gonia, and of another on snakes, under the title of
Theriaca. This last was an imitation, in some de-
gree, of the Theriaca of Nicander. {Quint. , Inst. Or. ,
10, 1, 66. --Spalding, ad Quint. , Inst. Or. , 6, 3, 96)
We have no remains of either of these works. The
poem De Herbarum virtutibus, commonly ascribed to
him, is now regarded as a production of the middle
ages. (Gyrald, Dial. , 4, p. 217, seqq. -- Broukhus. ,
ad Tibull. , p. 274. --Veesentnyer, Bibliogr. Analekt. ,
p. 84. )--II. A friend of Ovid's, who wrote a continu-
ation of the Iliad, and also an Antehomcrica. He has
been frequently confounded with the preceding, but
flourished, in truth, at a later period. The former
died in Asia, B. C. 17. (Compare the remarks of
Wsrnsdorff, Poet. Lot. Min. , vol. 4, p. 679, seqq. )
Machanidas, a powerful tyrant of Sparta, whose
views at one time extended to the subjugation of all
Peloponnesus. He was defeated and slain by l'hilo-
peemen in battle near Mantinea. (Plut. , Vit. Philop. )
Machaon, a celebrated physician, son of ^scula-
pius, and brother to Podalirius. He went to the Tro-
jan war, where his skill in surgery and the healing art
proved of great service to his countrymen. Machaon
? ? was one of those shut up in the wooden horse, and is
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? MAC
MA
--Hsrodian, 4, 12 2, seqq. )--II. A friend of the poet
I'eriius, to << hom his second satire is inscribed. They
had been fellow-students under Servilius Numanus.
(Ltmaire, ad Perj. , Sal. , 2, 1. )
Macbodii, a people of . 'Ethiopia, highly celebrated
hi antiquity, and whom Herodotus has copiously de-
scribed. An expedition was undertaken against them
by Cambysca, and in this way they have obtained a
Mine in history. A rumour of the vast quantity of
gold which they possessed determined Cambyses to
march against them. He sent, however, beforehand
aome spies into their country, from the nation of the
Icbthyophagi, as they understood their language. The
accounts, which the neighbouring people gave, repre-
sented the Macrobii as a tall and beautiful race, who
bad their own laws and institutions, and elected the
tallest among them to the dignity of king. The Icb-
thyophagi, on asking the monarch of the Macrobians,
to whom they brought presents as if ambassadors from
Cambyses, for what length of time his subjects lived,
were told for the space of 120 years, and sometimes
longer. Hence the name given them by the Greek
writers of Macrobii (Ma/tpo6ioi, "long-lived"). Gold
was the metal in commonest use among them, even
for the fetters of" their prisoners. Herodotus adds,
that Cambyses, on the return of his spies, immediately
marched against the Macrobii, but was compelled to re-
turn, from want of provisions, before he had proceeded
a fifth part of the way. (Herod. , 3, 17, seqq. )--Bruce
takes the Macrobii for a tribe of the Shangallas, dwell-
ing in#tho lower part of the gold countries, Cuba and
Auia. on both aides of the Nile, to the north of Fazuk-
la. (Travels, vol. 2, p. 554, seqq. ) Heeren, how-
ever, more correctly thinks, that the people in question
are to be sought for farther south, in another region.
None of the Shangallas, that we know of, live in cit-
iea, or have reached that degree of civilization imputed
is the Macrobii. He thinks it probable, therefore, that
tbe. Macrobii of Herodotus should be sought for on the
coast, or in one of the ports of Atlel, and in the vicinity
of Cdpc Guardefui. This would place them in the
country of the Somaulies, who are, perhaps, their de-
scendants. (Heeren, Ideen, vol. 2, pt. 1, p. 333, seqq. )
Macrobius, I. a Latin writer, who flourished in the
first half of the fifth century, under Theodosius the
Younger. His full name is Aurelius Macrobius Am-
brosius Theodosius. (Funcc. , de veget. L. L. senect. ,
4, 27. -- Fabric, Bib. Lat. , vol. 3, p. 180. ) As he
was not a Roman by birth, and seeks in this an ex-
cuse for his Latin style (Sat. , 1, 1), he has been re-
garded by some critics as a native of Greece. (Fa-
bric. , I. c, in iwtis. ) In the manuscripts he bears the
title of Vir Consularis et illustris; and from this
aome have concluded, that he is the same with the
Macrobius mentioned in a law of the Theodosian code
(lib. 6, tit. 8) as Prafedits sacri eubiculi, or chamber-
Lin of the royal bedchamber. Other critics have re-
marked, however, that this office was commonly given
to eunuchs, and that Macrobius the writer had a son.
It is also uncertain whether Macrobius was a Chris-
tian or not. The supposition that he held the office
of chamberlain under a Christian emperor has been the
chief, or, perhaps, the only ground for imagining him
to have been a Christian, since the language of his
writings and the interlocutors in the dialogues are en-
tirely heathen. (Consult Mahul, Dissertation sur la
Vie, <Scc, de Maerobe. -- Class. Journ. , vol. 20, p.
? ? 110. )--The works of Macrobius are three in number:
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? MM A
MiEC
Madaura, a city of NumiJu, near Tagaste, and
northwest of Sicca. It appears to have been a place
? f some importance, and, in the Notitia Numidia, Pru-
dentius Metaurensis is named as its bishop. It is com-
monly regarded as the birthplace of Apuleius, though
Mannert is in favour of the Roman colony Ad Mcdera.
No traces of Madaura remain. In an inscription of
Grulcr's (p. 600, n. 10), the name of the city is given
u Medaura. (Mannert, Geogr. , vol. 10, pt. 2, p.
Ml. )
MiEANDBR, a river of Asia Minor, rising near Celsj-
? se in Phrygia, and, after forming the common bound-
ary between Lydia and Caria, falling into the vtgean
below the promontory of Mycale. It was remarkable
for the winding nature of its course (ovcoAtoj- <3v if
iTrepfoXiv. --Strabo, 677), and hence all obliquities
or windings took the name of Maeander. (Strab. , I. c. )
It received the waters of various streams, the Marsyas,
Orgas, &c, but was not remarkable for its size as far
as regarded breadth, though a deep river, and fordable
only in a few places in the early part of its course.
According to Xenophon (Anab. , 1, 2), the Ma? ander
rose in the palace of Cyrus, flowing from thence
through his park and the city of Celaenae. In the vi-
cinity rose the Marsyas, which formed a junction with
the Maeander in the suburb of Celaenae, where after-
ward stood the city of Apamea. (Compare the re-
marks of Leake, Tour, p. 158, seqq. ) According to
Strabo (663), the common boundary of Caria and
Phrygia, on the Maeander, was at Carura. After the
river had reached Lydia and Caria, it widened, and
entered upon what the ancients denominated the plain
of the M>>ander, which extended from the borders
of Phrygia to the sea, nearly 100 miles. This plain
varied in breadth from 5 to 10 miles, and was orna-
mented with a number of fine cities and towns. Great
changes have taken place on the coast, at the mouth of
the Maeander, by the great deposition of mud and earth
m the course of ages: changes that have so com-
pletely altered the face of things as described by the
ancient*, that the first of modern geographers was to-
tally misled in his estimate of the ancient geography,
by attempting to reconcile it with the modem, on the
ground of the imperfect descriptions of it in the ancient
books. D'Anville had no conception that the Gulf of
I. atmus received the Maeander, but supposed a con-
siderable space to exist between them. Nor was he
aware that the gulf itself no longer existed; that its
wide opening to the sea was closed up by alluvions;
and that the island of Lade, so often mentioned as a
rendezvous in the history of the naval warfare of an-
cient times, had become a part of the main land, rising,
like the rock of Dumbarton, from the marshy soil;
and, moreover, that the inner part of the gulf was
transformed into a fresh-water lake. The mud of the
Maeander, having been deposited across the southeast
arm of the gulf, formed its upper part into a lake;
which soon became fresh, when the access of the sea-
water was barred out, as it receives a great quantity
of land waters from the surrounding mountains. It is
named the Lake of Bafi, from a town at the southeast
corner: it is about 12 miles in length, and from 3 to
B in breadth. Chandler represents the water as in-
sipid and not drinkable. The modem name of the
Maeander is Minder. (Rennell, Geogr. of Western
Asia, vol. 2, p. 30, seqq. ) Mr. Turner describes the
Mn-ander in a part of its course as about seventy feet
? ? ? ride, and having a current towards the sea of about a
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? M-ECENAS.
MAECENAS.
or Cis a. 'oance; and at length no conspiracies were
formed. At the same time, and with a similar object,
be did all in hia power to render the administration
of Augustas moderate and just; and, as he perfectly
understood all the weaknesses and virtues of his char-
acter, he easily bent his disposition to the side of mer-
cy. While he himself, as prefect of the city, had re-
tained the capital in admirable order and subjection,
he was yet remarkable for the mildness with which he
exercised this important office, to which belonged the
management of all civil affairs in the absence of the
emperor, the regulation of buildings, provisions, and
commerce, and the cognizance of all crimes committed
within a hundred miles of the capital. Seneca, who
is by no means favourable, in other respects, to the
character of Maecenas, allows him a full tribute of
praise for his clemency and mildness. (Epist. , 114. )
So sensible was Augustus of the benefits which his
government derived from the counsels and wise ad-
ministration of Maecenas, and such was his high opin-
ion of hia sagacity, fidelity, and secrecy, that every-
thing which concerned him, whether political or do-
mestic, was confided to this minister. Such, too,
were the terms of intimacy on which they lived, that
the emperor, when he fell sick, always made himself
be carried to the house of Maecenas; so difficult was
it to find repose in the habitation of a prince!
During
the most important and arduous periods of his admin-
istration, and while exercising an almost unremitting
assiduity, Maecenas had still the appearance of being
sunk in sloth and luxury. Though he could exert
Himself with the utmost activity and vigilance when
these were required, yet in his hours of freedom he
indulged himself in as much case and softness as the
most delicate lady in Rome. (Veil. Palerc, 2, 88. )
He was moderate in his desires of wealth or honours;
he was probably indolent and voluptuous by nature
ar. d inclination; and he rather wished to exhibit than
conceal his faults. The air of effeminate ease which
h<< ever assumed, was perhaps good policy in ref-
erence both to the prince and people. Neither could
be jealous of a minister who was apparently so care-
less and indifferent, and who seemed occupied chiefly
with his magnificent villas and costly furniture. He
usually came abroad with a negligent gait and in a
loose garb. When he went to the theatre, forum, or
senate, his ungirt robe trailed on the ground, and he
wore a little cloak, with a hood like a fugitive slave in
a pantomime. Instead of being followed by lictors or
tribunes, he appeared in all public places attended by
two eunuchs. (Senec, Epist. , 114. ) He possessed
a magnificent and spacious villa on the Esquiline Hill,
to which a tower adjoined remarkable for its height.
The gardens of Maecenas, which surrounded the villa,
were among the most delightful in Rome or its vicin-
ity. Here, seated in the cool shade of his green
spreading trees, whence the most musical birds con-
stantly warbled their harmonious notes, he was accus-
tomed to linger, and pay at idle hours his court to the
muses. Being fond of change and singularity, the
style of Maecenas's entertainments varied. They were
sometimes profuse and magnificent, at others elegant
and private; but they were always inimitable in point
of taste and fancy. He was the first person who in-
troduced at Rome the luxury of young mule's flesh;
hia table was served with the most delicious wines,
among which was one of Italian growth and most ex-
? ? quisite flavour, called from his name Maccnatianum
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? MiED
MiEO
soncerning tne conspiracy in which her brother Mu-
rsna had been engaged. Suetonius informs us, that
he had felt some displeasure on that account; but Mu-
raena's plot was discovered in the year 732, and the
decline of Maecenas's political power cannot be placed
earlier than 733. The disgust conceived by masters
when they have given all, and by favourites who have
nothing more to receive, or are satiated with honours,
may partly account for the coldness which arose be-
tween Augustus and his minister. But the declining
? ? a'. ih of Maecenas, and his natural indolence, increas-
ing by the advance of years, afforded of themselves
? ufTicient cause for his gradual retirement from public
affairs. His constitution, which was naturally weak,
had been impaired by effeminacy and luxurious living.
He had laboured from his youth under a perpetual
fever (Plin. , 7, 51); and for many years before his
death he suffered much from wakefulness, which was
greatly aggravated by his domestic chagrins. Maece-
nas was fond of life and enjoyment; and of life even
without enjoyment. Hence he anxiously resorted to
different remedies for the cure or relief of this distress-
ing malady. Wine, soft music sounding at a dis-
tance, and various other contrivances, were tried in
vain. At length, Antonius Musa, the imperial physi-
cian, who had saved the life of Augustus, but accel-
tratcd the death of Marcellus, obtained for him some
alleviation of his complaint by mean* of the distant
murmurings of falling water. The sound was artifi-
cially procured at his villa on the Esquiline Hill. Du-
ring this stage of his complaint, however, Maecenas
resided principally in his villa at Tibur, situated on
the banks of the Anio, and near its celebrated cas-
cades. This was indeed a spot to which Morpheus
might have sent his kindest dreams; and the pure air
of Tibur, with the streams tumbling into the valley
through the arches of the villa, did bestow on the
worn-out and sleepless courtier some few moments of
lepose. Dut all these resources at lorurlh failed.
The i crvou* tx. i f*7<<ri:? . ir^nci <<. >n which M>>-
;enai we; afflicted increased so dreadfully, that for
diree years before his death he never closed his eyes.
In his last will, he rfrorr. mendcd Horace, in the most
? flectionttf U-nns, to the protection of the emperor:
"Ifc-. arii Flacci, ut mei, memor csto. " He died in
745, in the same year with Horace, and was buried in
Sis own gerdens on tho Esquiline Hill. He left no
child, and in Mxcenas terminated the line of the an-
cient Etrurian princes. But he bequeathed to pos-
terity a name, immortal as the arts of which he had
been through life the generous protector, and which
is deeply inscribed on monuments that can only be
destroyed by some calamity fatal to civilization. Mae-
cenas had nominated Augustus as his heir, and the
emperor thus became possessed of the Tiburtinc villa,
which had formed the principal residence of the min-
ister during the close of his life, and in which the
monarch passed a great part of the concluding years
of his reign. The death of his old favourite revived
all the esteem which Augustus had once entertained
for him; and, many years afterward, when stung with
regret at having divulged the shame of his daughter
Julia and punished her offence, he acknowledged bis
irreparable loss by exclaiming, that he would have
been prevented from acting such a part had Maecenas
been still alive. So difficult was it to repair the loss
of one man, though he had millions of subjects under
? ? his obedience. "His legions," says Seneca, " being
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? MAO
MAGI
(Compare Weanling, ad Herod. , 4, 46. )--We have
here a curious link in the chain connecting the early
religion of India with that of the countries to the west.
The leading idea appears to be one of a cosmogoni-
cal nature, and to refer to the action of the humid
principle as the generating cause of all things. Hence
the Aphrodite of the Greeks, rising from the bosom of
the waters (avaivo/iivn. --'A^pooVrif irovroycvijc. Or-
pheus, H. , 54, ed. Hcrm. ), or, in other words, the
great Mother of all (M17T170). She is the Moid (Terra
Mater) of the Egyptians, the same with their Isis.
(Crcuzer, Symbol. , vol. 1, p. 354): the Mur (Mot)
of Sanchoniathon (limns, aut aquosa mixtionis putre-
do--Bochart, Gcogr. Slier. , 2, 2, p. 705); the Xrioc
of Hesiod ( Theog. , 123); the yiiirnc, to whom a tem-
ple was erected in the vicinity of the Hypanis and Bo-
rysthenes (Herod. , 4, 53. -- Wets. , ail loc. ); the yrj
piTrjp. the primitive slime (Creuxer, Symbol, vol. 4,
p. 329); the Mr/nfp, 17 7rpeo6vruTn ? Kuaa (Hesych. , cd.
Alberti, p. 597); the Mi/rie of Hesiod and of the Or-
phic poets (Orpheus, Argon. , ed. Hcrm. Aposp. , 6,
19, 11. , p. 461); and the Mafa of the Doric dialect
(Iambi. , Vit. Pylhag. , ed. Kiessling, p. 114, 56). --
The root of this word is to be found in the Sanscrit.
(Compare Hesychius, Mot, fteya. 'Ivdot. ) Mana-
Mai (Magna Mater) is worshipped at the present day
by the Buddhists in Nepaul. (Kirtpalrick, Account of
Sepaul, &. c, p. 114. )--The worship of the great moth-
er (xOovin ftr/Tnp (laoileia. --Orpheus, Hymn. , 49, 4,
ed. Herm. , p. 313); the mother of gods and nurse of
all things (iJcciv pjjrnp, rpotybc irdvruv. --Orpheus,
Hymn . 26 ct 27, ed. Herm. , p. 286, seqq. ); the Metis
whom Jove espoused as his first consort, after the con-
flict with the Titans (Hesiod, Theog , 886), appears
to have spread from east to west, and one of the early
seats of this worship to have been in the vicinity of the
Palua Maeotis, whose slimy waters were regarded as a
type of that primitive slime from whose teeming bosom
the world was supposed to have been formed. (Jl/l-
ter's Vorhalle, p. 57. --Id. ibid , p. 161, seqq. )
MiCsiA Syi. va, a forest in Etruria, southwest from
Veii. It originslly belonged to this city, but was ta-
ken by Ancus Marcius. (Liv , 1, 33. ) Pliny reports
that it abounded with dormice. (Plin. , 8, 58. )
M. *:vlis, a miserable poet of the Augustan age,
who, along with Bavius, frequently attacked the pro-
ductions of Virgil, Horace, and other distinguished
writers of the day. They are both held up to ridicule
in turn by Virgil and Horace, and owe the preserva-
tion of their names to this circumstance alone. (Virg. ,
Eelog. , 3, 90. -- Voss, ad loc. --Sertius, ad Virg. ,
Georg. , 1, 210. -- Horat. , Epod. , 10, 2. -- Weichcrt,
de obtrect. Horat. , p. 12. --Bah, Gesch. Rom. Lit. ,
vol. 1, p 125 )
Magetobria, a city of Gaul, the situation of which
has given rise to much discussion. Some place it
near Binga, below Moguntia; and they found this
opinion on the opening lines in the poem of Ausonius
upon the Mosella. D'Anvillc, however, and subse-
quent writers, discover traces of the ancient name in
tie spot called at the present day la Moigte de Broie,
at the confluence of the Arar and Ogno, near a village
named PonxaiVcr, which belonged formerly to Burgun-
dy. This opinion is confirmed by an inscription found
in this quarter on the fragment of an urn, dug up, along
with other articles, in 1802. The inscription is MA-
GETOB. (Cat. , B. G. , 1, 31. --Lemaire, Ind. Ge-
? ? ogr. , ad Cets. , s. >>. )
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? MAGI.
gods, to whom all things are open, are not to be con-
fined within the walls of a temple. The account which
Diogenes Laertius gives of the Magi is this (1, 6,
seqq. ): "They are employed in worshipping the coda
by prayers and sacrifices, as if their worship alone
would be accepted ; they teach their doctrine concern-
ing tbe nature and origin of the gods, whom they think
to bo fire, earth, and water; they reject the use of
pictures and images, and reprobate the opinion that the
gods are male and female; they discourse to the peo-
ple concerning justice; they think it impious to con-
sume dead bodies with fire; they allow of marriage
tetween mother and son; they practise divination and
prophecy, pretending that the gods appear to them;
they forbid the use of ornaments in dress; they clothe
themselves in a white robe; they make use of the
ground as their bed, of herbs, cheese, and bread for
food, and of a reed for their staff. " And Strabo re-
lates, that there were in Cappadocia a great number
of Magi, who were called Pyrelhi, or worshippers of
fire, and many temples of the Persian gods, in the
midst of which were altars, attended by priests, who
daily renewed the sacred fire, accompanying the cere-
mony with music. The religious system of the Magi
was materially improved by Zoroaster. Plutarch,
speaking of his doctrine (Is. et Os. , p. 369. --Op. , ed.
Hciskc. vol. 7, p. 468), says: "Some maintain, that
neither is the world governed by blind chance without
intelligence, nor is there one mind alone at the head of
the universe; but since good and evil are blended, and
nature produces nothing unmixed, we are to conceive,
not that there is. one storekeeper, who, after the manner
of a host, dispenses adulterated liquors to his guests, but
that there are in nature two opposite powers, counter-
acting each other's operations, the one accomplishing
good designs, the other evil. To the better power
Zoroaster gave the name of Oromasdes, to the worse
that of Arimanius; and affirmed that, of sensible ob-
ject*, the former most rese-nbled light, the latter dark-
?
--Cramer's Anc. Greece, vol. 1, p. 164, scqq. -- En-
tyel. Us. Knotci, vol. 14, p. 241. )--For a list of the
ancient kings of Macedonia, with remarks on their
leign consult Clinton's Fasli Hcllcnici, p. 221, seqq. ,
U ed.
Macer, I. a Latin poet, a native of Verona. He
was the author of a poem on birds, entitled Ornitho-
gonia, and of another on snakes, under the title of
Theriaca. This last was an imitation, in some de-
gree, of the Theriaca of Nicander. {Quint. , Inst. Or. ,
10, 1, 66. --Spalding, ad Quint. , Inst. Or. , 6, 3, 96)
We have no remains of either of these works. The
poem De Herbarum virtutibus, commonly ascribed to
him, is now regarded as a production of the middle
ages. (Gyrald, Dial. , 4, p. 217, seqq. -- Broukhus. ,
ad Tibull. , p. 274. --Veesentnyer, Bibliogr. Analekt. ,
p. 84. )--II. A friend of Ovid's, who wrote a continu-
ation of the Iliad, and also an Antehomcrica. He has
been frequently confounded with the preceding, but
flourished, in truth, at a later period. The former
died in Asia, B. C. 17. (Compare the remarks of
Wsrnsdorff, Poet. Lot. Min. , vol. 4, p. 679, seqq. )
Machanidas, a powerful tyrant of Sparta, whose
views at one time extended to the subjugation of all
Peloponnesus. He was defeated and slain by l'hilo-
peemen in battle near Mantinea. (Plut. , Vit. Philop. )
Machaon, a celebrated physician, son of ^scula-
pius, and brother to Podalirius. He went to the Tro-
jan war, where his skill in surgery and the healing art
proved of great service to his countrymen. Machaon
? ? was one of those shut up in the wooden horse, and is
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? MAC
MA
--Hsrodian, 4, 12 2, seqq. )--II. A friend of the poet
I'eriius, to << hom his second satire is inscribed. They
had been fellow-students under Servilius Numanus.
(Ltmaire, ad Perj. , Sal. , 2, 1. )
Macbodii, a people of . 'Ethiopia, highly celebrated
hi antiquity, and whom Herodotus has copiously de-
scribed. An expedition was undertaken against them
by Cambysca, and in this way they have obtained a
Mine in history. A rumour of the vast quantity of
gold which they possessed determined Cambyses to
march against them. He sent, however, beforehand
aome spies into their country, from the nation of the
Icbthyophagi, as they understood their language. The
accounts, which the neighbouring people gave, repre-
sented the Macrobii as a tall and beautiful race, who
bad their own laws and institutions, and elected the
tallest among them to the dignity of king. The Icb-
thyophagi, on asking the monarch of the Macrobians,
to whom they brought presents as if ambassadors from
Cambyses, for what length of time his subjects lived,
were told for the space of 120 years, and sometimes
longer. Hence the name given them by the Greek
writers of Macrobii (Ma/tpo6ioi, "long-lived"). Gold
was the metal in commonest use among them, even
for the fetters of" their prisoners. Herodotus adds,
that Cambyses, on the return of his spies, immediately
marched against the Macrobii, but was compelled to re-
turn, from want of provisions, before he had proceeded
a fifth part of the way. (Herod. , 3, 17, seqq. )--Bruce
takes the Macrobii for a tribe of the Shangallas, dwell-
ing in#tho lower part of the gold countries, Cuba and
Auia. on both aides of the Nile, to the north of Fazuk-
la. (Travels, vol. 2, p. 554, seqq. ) Heeren, how-
ever, more correctly thinks, that the people in question
are to be sought for farther south, in another region.
None of the Shangallas, that we know of, live in cit-
iea, or have reached that degree of civilization imputed
is the Macrobii. He thinks it probable, therefore, that
tbe. Macrobii of Herodotus should be sought for on the
coast, or in one of the ports of Atlel, and in the vicinity
of Cdpc Guardefui. This would place them in the
country of the Somaulies, who are, perhaps, their de-
scendants. (Heeren, Ideen, vol. 2, pt. 1, p. 333, seqq. )
Macrobius, I. a Latin writer, who flourished in the
first half of the fifth century, under Theodosius the
Younger. His full name is Aurelius Macrobius Am-
brosius Theodosius. (Funcc. , de veget. L. L. senect. ,
4, 27. -- Fabric, Bib. Lat. , vol. 3, p. 180. ) As he
was not a Roman by birth, and seeks in this an ex-
cuse for his Latin style (Sat. , 1, 1), he has been re-
garded by some critics as a native of Greece. (Fa-
bric. , I. c, in iwtis. ) In the manuscripts he bears the
title of Vir Consularis et illustris; and from this
aome have concluded, that he is the same with the
Macrobius mentioned in a law of the Theodosian code
(lib. 6, tit. 8) as Prafedits sacri eubiculi, or chamber-
Lin of the royal bedchamber. Other critics have re-
marked, however, that this office was commonly given
to eunuchs, and that Macrobius the writer had a son.
It is also uncertain whether Macrobius was a Chris-
tian or not. The supposition that he held the office
of chamberlain under a Christian emperor has been the
chief, or, perhaps, the only ground for imagining him
to have been a Christian, since the language of his
writings and the interlocutors in the dialogues are en-
tirely heathen. (Consult Mahul, Dissertation sur la
Vie, <Scc, de Maerobe. -- Class. Journ. , vol. 20, p.
? ? 110. )--The works of Macrobius are three in number:
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? MM A
MiEC
Madaura, a city of NumiJu, near Tagaste, and
northwest of Sicca. It appears to have been a place
? f some importance, and, in the Notitia Numidia, Pru-
dentius Metaurensis is named as its bishop. It is com-
monly regarded as the birthplace of Apuleius, though
Mannert is in favour of the Roman colony Ad Mcdera.
No traces of Madaura remain. In an inscription of
Grulcr's (p. 600, n. 10), the name of the city is given
u Medaura. (Mannert, Geogr. , vol. 10, pt. 2, p.
Ml. )
MiEANDBR, a river of Asia Minor, rising near Celsj-
? se in Phrygia, and, after forming the common bound-
ary between Lydia and Caria, falling into the vtgean
below the promontory of Mycale. It was remarkable
for the winding nature of its course (ovcoAtoj- <3v if
iTrepfoXiv. --Strabo, 677), and hence all obliquities
or windings took the name of Maeander. (Strab. , I. c. )
It received the waters of various streams, the Marsyas,
Orgas, &c, but was not remarkable for its size as far
as regarded breadth, though a deep river, and fordable
only in a few places in the early part of its course.
According to Xenophon (Anab. , 1, 2), the Ma? ander
rose in the palace of Cyrus, flowing from thence
through his park and the city of Celaenae. In the vi-
cinity rose the Marsyas, which formed a junction with
the Maeander in the suburb of Celaenae, where after-
ward stood the city of Apamea. (Compare the re-
marks of Leake, Tour, p. 158, seqq. ) According to
Strabo (663), the common boundary of Caria and
Phrygia, on the Maeander, was at Carura. After the
river had reached Lydia and Caria, it widened, and
entered upon what the ancients denominated the plain
of the M>>ander, which extended from the borders
of Phrygia to the sea, nearly 100 miles. This plain
varied in breadth from 5 to 10 miles, and was orna-
mented with a number of fine cities and towns. Great
changes have taken place on the coast, at the mouth of
the Maeander, by the great deposition of mud and earth
m the course of ages: changes that have so com-
pletely altered the face of things as described by the
ancient*, that the first of modern geographers was to-
tally misled in his estimate of the ancient geography,
by attempting to reconcile it with the modem, on the
ground of the imperfect descriptions of it in the ancient
books. D'Anville had no conception that the Gulf of
I. atmus received the Maeander, but supposed a con-
siderable space to exist between them. Nor was he
aware that the gulf itself no longer existed; that its
wide opening to the sea was closed up by alluvions;
and that the island of Lade, so often mentioned as a
rendezvous in the history of the naval warfare of an-
cient times, had become a part of the main land, rising,
like the rock of Dumbarton, from the marshy soil;
and, moreover, that the inner part of the gulf was
transformed into a fresh-water lake. The mud of the
Maeander, having been deposited across the southeast
arm of the gulf, formed its upper part into a lake;
which soon became fresh, when the access of the sea-
water was barred out, as it receives a great quantity
of land waters from the surrounding mountains. It is
named the Lake of Bafi, from a town at the southeast
corner: it is about 12 miles in length, and from 3 to
B in breadth. Chandler represents the water as in-
sipid and not drinkable. The modem name of the
Maeander is Minder. (Rennell, Geogr. of Western
Asia, vol. 2, p. 30, seqq. ) Mr. Turner describes the
Mn-ander in a part of its course as about seventy feet
? ? ? ride, and having a current towards the sea of about a
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? M-ECENAS.
MAECENAS.
or Cis a. 'oance; and at length no conspiracies were
formed. At the same time, and with a similar object,
be did all in hia power to render the administration
of Augustas moderate and just; and, as he perfectly
understood all the weaknesses and virtues of his char-
acter, he easily bent his disposition to the side of mer-
cy. While he himself, as prefect of the city, had re-
tained the capital in admirable order and subjection,
he was yet remarkable for the mildness with which he
exercised this important office, to which belonged the
management of all civil affairs in the absence of the
emperor, the regulation of buildings, provisions, and
commerce, and the cognizance of all crimes committed
within a hundred miles of the capital. Seneca, who
is by no means favourable, in other respects, to the
character of Maecenas, allows him a full tribute of
praise for his clemency and mildness. (Epist. , 114. )
So sensible was Augustus of the benefits which his
government derived from the counsels and wise ad-
ministration of Maecenas, and such was his high opin-
ion of hia sagacity, fidelity, and secrecy, that every-
thing which concerned him, whether political or do-
mestic, was confided to this minister. Such, too,
were the terms of intimacy on which they lived, that
the emperor, when he fell sick, always made himself
be carried to the house of Maecenas; so difficult was
it to find repose in the habitation of a prince!
During
the most important and arduous periods of his admin-
istration, and while exercising an almost unremitting
assiduity, Maecenas had still the appearance of being
sunk in sloth and luxury. Though he could exert
Himself with the utmost activity and vigilance when
these were required, yet in his hours of freedom he
indulged himself in as much case and softness as the
most delicate lady in Rome. (Veil. Palerc, 2, 88. )
He was moderate in his desires of wealth or honours;
he was probably indolent and voluptuous by nature
ar. d inclination; and he rather wished to exhibit than
conceal his faults. The air of effeminate ease which
h<< ever assumed, was perhaps good policy in ref-
erence both to the prince and people. Neither could
be jealous of a minister who was apparently so care-
less and indifferent, and who seemed occupied chiefly
with his magnificent villas and costly furniture. He
usually came abroad with a negligent gait and in a
loose garb. When he went to the theatre, forum, or
senate, his ungirt robe trailed on the ground, and he
wore a little cloak, with a hood like a fugitive slave in
a pantomime. Instead of being followed by lictors or
tribunes, he appeared in all public places attended by
two eunuchs. (Senec, Epist. , 114. ) He possessed
a magnificent and spacious villa on the Esquiline Hill,
to which a tower adjoined remarkable for its height.
The gardens of Maecenas, which surrounded the villa,
were among the most delightful in Rome or its vicin-
ity. Here, seated in the cool shade of his green
spreading trees, whence the most musical birds con-
stantly warbled their harmonious notes, he was accus-
tomed to linger, and pay at idle hours his court to the
muses. Being fond of change and singularity, the
style of Maecenas's entertainments varied. They were
sometimes profuse and magnificent, at others elegant
and private; but they were always inimitable in point
of taste and fancy. He was the first person who in-
troduced at Rome the luxury of young mule's flesh;
hia table was served with the most delicious wines,
among which was one of Italian growth and most ex-
? ? quisite flavour, called from his name Maccnatianum
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? MiED
MiEO
soncerning tne conspiracy in which her brother Mu-
rsna had been engaged. Suetonius informs us, that
he had felt some displeasure on that account; but Mu-
raena's plot was discovered in the year 732, and the
decline of Maecenas's political power cannot be placed
earlier than 733. The disgust conceived by masters
when they have given all, and by favourites who have
nothing more to receive, or are satiated with honours,
may partly account for the coldness which arose be-
tween Augustus and his minister. But the declining
? ? a'. ih of Maecenas, and his natural indolence, increas-
ing by the advance of years, afforded of themselves
? ufTicient cause for his gradual retirement from public
affairs. His constitution, which was naturally weak,
had been impaired by effeminacy and luxurious living.
He had laboured from his youth under a perpetual
fever (Plin. , 7, 51); and for many years before his
death he suffered much from wakefulness, which was
greatly aggravated by his domestic chagrins. Maece-
nas was fond of life and enjoyment; and of life even
without enjoyment. Hence he anxiously resorted to
different remedies for the cure or relief of this distress-
ing malady. Wine, soft music sounding at a dis-
tance, and various other contrivances, were tried in
vain. At length, Antonius Musa, the imperial physi-
cian, who had saved the life of Augustus, but accel-
tratcd the death of Marcellus, obtained for him some
alleviation of his complaint by mean* of the distant
murmurings of falling water. The sound was artifi-
cially procured at his villa on the Esquiline Hill. Du-
ring this stage of his complaint, however, Maecenas
resided principally in his villa at Tibur, situated on
the banks of the Anio, and near its celebrated cas-
cades. This was indeed a spot to which Morpheus
might have sent his kindest dreams; and the pure air
of Tibur, with the streams tumbling into the valley
through the arches of the villa, did bestow on the
worn-out and sleepless courtier some few moments of
lepose. Dut all these resources at lorurlh failed.
The i crvou* tx. i f*7<<ri:? . ir^nci <<. >n which M>>-
;enai we; afflicted increased so dreadfully, that for
diree years before his death he never closed his eyes.
In his last will, he rfrorr. mendcd Horace, in the most
? flectionttf U-nns, to the protection of the emperor:
"Ifc-. arii Flacci, ut mei, memor csto. " He died in
745, in the same year with Horace, and was buried in
Sis own gerdens on tho Esquiline Hill. He left no
child, and in Mxcenas terminated the line of the an-
cient Etrurian princes. But he bequeathed to pos-
terity a name, immortal as the arts of which he had
been through life the generous protector, and which
is deeply inscribed on monuments that can only be
destroyed by some calamity fatal to civilization. Mae-
cenas had nominated Augustus as his heir, and the
emperor thus became possessed of the Tiburtinc villa,
which had formed the principal residence of the min-
ister during the close of his life, and in which the
monarch passed a great part of the concluding years
of his reign. The death of his old favourite revived
all the esteem which Augustus had once entertained
for him; and, many years afterward, when stung with
regret at having divulged the shame of his daughter
Julia and punished her offence, he acknowledged bis
irreparable loss by exclaiming, that he would have
been prevented from acting such a part had Maecenas
been still alive. So difficult was it to repair the loss
of one man, though he had millions of subjects under
? ? his obedience. "His legions," says Seneca, " being
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? MAO
MAGI
(Compare Weanling, ad Herod. , 4, 46. )--We have
here a curious link in the chain connecting the early
religion of India with that of the countries to the west.
The leading idea appears to be one of a cosmogoni-
cal nature, and to refer to the action of the humid
principle as the generating cause of all things. Hence
the Aphrodite of the Greeks, rising from the bosom of
the waters (avaivo/iivn. --'A^pooVrif irovroycvijc. Or-
pheus, H. , 54, ed. Hcrm. ), or, in other words, the
great Mother of all (M17T170). She is the Moid (Terra
Mater) of the Egyptians, the same with their Isis.
(Crcuzer, Symbol. , vol. 1, p. 354): the Mur (Mot)
of Sanchoniathon (limns, aut aquosa mixtionis putre-
do--Bochart, Gcogr. Slier. , 2, 2, p. 705); the Xrioc
of Hesiod ( Theog. , 123); the yiiirnc, to whom a tem-
ple was erected in the vicinity of the Hypanis and Bo-
rysthenes (Herod. , 4, 53. -- Wets. , ail loc. ); the yrj
piTrjp. the primitive slime (Creuxer, Symbol, vol. 4,
p. 329); the Mr/nfp, 17 7rpeo6vruTn ? Kuaa (Hesych. , cd.
Alberti, p. 597); the Mi/rie of Hesiod and of the Or-
phic poets (Orpheus, Argon. , ed. Hcrm. Aposp. , 6,
19, 11. , p. 461); and the Mafa of the Doric dialect
(Iambi. , Vit. Pylhag. , ed. Kiessling, p. 114, 56). --
The root of this word is to be found in the Sanscrit.
(Compare Hesychius, Mot, fteya. 'Ivdot. ) Mana-
Mai (Magna Mater) is worshipped at the present day
by the Buddhists in Nepaul. (Kirtpalrick, Account of
Sepaul, &. c, p. 114. )--The worship of the great moth-
er (xOovin ftr/Tnp (laoileia. --Orpheus, Hymn. , 49, 4,
ed. Herm. , p. 313); the mother of gods and nurse of
all things (iJcciv pjjrnp, rpotybc irdvruv. --Orpheus,
Hymn . 26 ct 27, ed. Herm. , p. 286, seqq. ); the Metis
whom Jove espoused as his first consort, after the con-
flict with the Titans (Hesiod, Theog , 886), appears
to have spread from east to west, and one of the early
seats of this worship to have been in the vicinity of the
Palua Maeotis, whose slimy waters were regarded as a
type of that primitive slime from whose teeming bosom
the world was supposed to have been formed. (Jl/l-
ter's Vorhalle, p. 57. --Id. ibid , p. 161, seqq. )
MiCsiA Syi. va, a forest in Etruria, southwest from
Veii. It originslly belonged to this city, but was ta-
ken by Ancus Marcius. (Liv , 1, 33. ) Pliny reports
that it abounded with dormice. (Plin. , 8, 58. )
M. *:vlis, a miserable poet of the Augustan age,
who, along with Bavius, frequently attacked the pro-
ductions of Virgil, Horace, and other distinguished
writers of the day. They are both held up to ridicule
in turn by Virgil and Horace, and owe the preserva-
tion of their names to this circumstance alone. (Virg. ,
Eelog. , 3, 90. -- Voss, ad loc. --Sertius, ad Virg. ,
Georg. , 1, 210. -- Horat. , Epod. , 10, 2. -- Weichcrt,
de obtrect. Horat. , p. 12. --Bah, Gesch. Rom. Lit. ,
vol. 1, p 125 )
Magetobria, a city of Gaul, the situation of which
has given rise to much discussion. Some place it
near Binga, below Moguntia; and they found this
opinion on the opening lines in the poem of Ausonius
upon the Mosella. D'Anvillc, however, and subse-
quent writers, discover traces of the ancient name in
tie spot called at the present day la Moigte de Broie,
at the confluence of the Arar and Ogno, near a village
named PonxaiVcr, which belonged formerly to Burgun-
dy. This opinion is confirmed by an inscription found
in this quarter on the fragment of an urn, dug up, along
with other articles, in 1802. The inscription is MA-
GETOB. (Cat. , B. G. , 1, 31. --Lemaire, Ind. Ge-
? ? ogr. , ad Cets. , s. >>. )
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? MAGI.
gods, to whom all things are open, are not to be con-
fined within the walls of a temple. The account which
Diogenes Laertius gives of the Magi is this (1, 6,
seqq. ): "They are employed in worshipping the coda
by prayers and sacrifices, as if their worship alone
would be accepted ; they teach their doctrine concern-
ing tbe nature and origin of the gods, whom they think
to bo fire, earth, and water; they reject the use of
pictures and images, and reprobate the opinion that the
gods are male and female; they discourse to the peo-
ple concerning justice; they think it impious to con-
sume dead bodies with fire; they allow of marriage
tetween mother and son; they practise divination and
prophecy, pretending that the gods appear to them;
they forbid the use of ornaments in dress; they clothe
themselves in a white robe; they make use of the
ground as their bed, of herbs, cheese, and bread for
food, and of a reed for their staff. " And Strabo re-
lates, that there were in Cappadocia a great number
of Magi, who were called Pyrelhi, or worshippers of
fire, and many temples of the Persian gods, in the
midst of which were altars, attended by priests, who
daily renewed the sacred fire, accompanying the cere-
mony with music. The religious system of the Magi
was materially improved by Zoroaster. Plutarch,
speaking of his doctrine (Is. et Os. , p. 369. --Op. , ed.
Hciskc. vol. 7, p. 468), says: "Some maintain, that
neither is the world governed by blind chance without
intelligence, nor is there one mind alone at the head of
the universe; but since good and evil are blended, and
nature produces nothing unmixed, we are to conceive,
not that there is. one storekeeper, who, after the manner
of a host, dispenses adulterated liquors to his guests, but
that there are in nature two opposite powers, counter-
acting each other's operations, the one accomplishing
good designs, the other evil. To the better power
Zoroaster gave the name of Oromasdes, to the worse
that of Arimanius; and affirmed that, of sensible ob-
ject*, the former most rese-nbled light, the latter dark-
?
