A fragment of a work of
lendar, Greek") is referred to by Aelian (Var.
lendar, Greek") is referred to by Aelian (Var.
William Smith - 1844 - Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities - b
various works of Aristotle's, especially Physica, De
(Comp. Welcker, Die Aeschyl. Tril. p. 278. ) Anima, De Coclo, De Ortu et Interitu, De Memoria
2. A male being, a mystic personification of the et Reminiscentia, De Somno et Vigilia, and others.
power of generation among the so-called Orphics, The Greek text has never been published. A
similar to Phanes and Ericapaeus. (Orph. Fragm. Latin version by Gentianus Hervetus appeared at
vi. 19, viſi, 2. )
[L. S. ] Basel, 155,9, 4to ; reprinted, Ravenna, 1614, 4to ;
METIUS. [Mettius. ]
2. Xpovikov, a Roman history from Julius Caesar
METOCHI'TA, GEOʻRGIUS (repyros to Constantine the Great ; the Greek text, with a
Metoxitos), magnus diaconus in Constantinople, Latin version, by John Meursius, Leyden, 1618.
lived in the thirteenth century. He was an inti- 4to. Regarding the doubts on Metochita's author-
mate friend and staunch adherent of the emperor ship of this work, compare Fabricius ; 3. 'Trouvnua-
Andronicus the Elder, and one of those few Greek Tromol Kal EnuEico Eis yrwulkai, various commen-
divines who advocated the re-union of the Greek taries, essays, sentences, &c. , published under the
and Latin churches. For both these reasons he title Specimina Operum Theod. Melochitae, by
was deposed and exiled, about 1283, by the em- Janus Bloch, Copenhagen, 1790, 8vo. The fol-
peror Andronicus the Younger. He died in exile, lowing are still unpublished :-4. Tepl NewTepe-
but the year of his death is not known. Some say kîs kakondela, De mala recentiorum Consuetudine,
that he was the father of the following Theodore treats on the corruption of the church, especially of
Metochita, with whom several modern writers have the anti-Christian changes introduced into the
confounded him. He wrote different works of no rites. Arcadius made a Latin version of this work,
small importance for the history of the time: his which, however, seems not to have been published.
style is abominable, but full of expressive strength 5. Abyou, eight books on ecclesiastical history, two
and barbarous vigour. 1. 'Artipinois, &c. , or of which are extant in MS. 6. Capita Philosophica
Refutatio trium Capitum Maximi Planudis; 2. et Historica Miscellanea CXX. , of which Fabricius
'Avriponors, &c. , or, Responsio ad ea quae Manuel gives the titles. Their great variety allows us to
Nepos Cretensis publicavit, both publistied together, infer the extensive learning and the speculative
Greek and Latin, by Leo Allatius, in the second genius of Metochita. 7. Michaelis Palaeologi et
volume of Graecia Orthodox. 3. Fragmentum ex Irenes Augustae Epitaphium. 8. Astronomica.
Oratione de Unione Ecclesiarum, published by the Metochita was one of the best astronomers of his
same in his diatribe Contra Hottinger. ; 4. Fragm. time. 9. Commentarii in Ptolemaei Magnam Syn-
er Oratione de Dissidio Ecclesiar. , ibid. ; 5. Trac- taxin, said to be extant in MS. in Spain. (Fabric.
tatus de Processione Spiritus Suncti Patrumque hác Bibl. Graec. vol. X. p. 412, &c. ; Cave, Hist. Lit.
in re Sententiis, divided into five parts or books ; ad ann. 1276, and Wharton, in Append. to Cave,
a fragment of the fourth was published by Com- ad ann. 1301 ; Thomas Magister, Ipoo PoveUTIKOV
béfis in the second volume of Nova Biblioth. Putr. (ad Metochitam) and Epistola (to the same), ed.
and a fragment of the fifth by Leo Allatius in Graec. et Lat. , together with other letters of the
De Purgatorio and Contra Hottinger. , who gives same Thomas, Laurentius Normann, Upsala,
some information on the whole work in his De 1693, 4to. )
(W. P. ]
Consensu utriusque Ecclesiae, p. 771; 6. Oratio METON (Métwv), a citizen of Tarentum, who,
Antirrhetica contra Georgium Cyprium Patriarcham. when the decree was proposed for calling in the
7. Oratio de Sacris Mysteriis ; 8. Explicatio Regu- assistance of Pyrrhus, came into the assembly of
larum S. Nicephori, &c. , and other minor pro- the people, in the garb of a reveller, and accom-
ductions, most of which were known to Leo panied by a flute-player, as if just come from a
Allatius. (Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. X. p. 412, / banquet. When the people laughed at him, and
and
that
Dom
copie
oft
anot
Meu
buir
of Me
bear
anoti
M
sary
Lare
biinsa
chus
Melo
and
either
calls
leny
in ih
unles
to be
(grese
drav,
ferred
Fears
lendar
Hut.
36),
Op rei
Athen
tions
before
Fros
## p. 1069 (#1085) ##########################################
METON.
1069
METROBIUS.
3
29
ܗܳܢܶ
LA
ಜಿ.
called out to him to sing thein a song, he answered, these observations of the solstices made by Meton
" You are right to encourage men to sing and make and Euctenon is thus to be determined (ilalma, i.
merry now while they can, for when Pyrrhus is 163):-" It is said that this observation was mado
arrived we shall have to lead a very different sort at Athens when Apseudes was archon, on the 21st
of life. " By this artifice he produced a great effect of the month Phamenoth, in the morning. Now,
upon the assembly ; but the decree was never from this solstice to that which was observed by
theless carried. (Plut. Pyrrh. 13; Dion Cass. Aristarchus in the fiftieth year of the first period
Fr. Vat. 45, p. 169, ed. Mai ; Dionys. xvii. of Calippus, there have elapsed, as Hipparchus says,
13, 14. )
(E. H. B. ) 152 years. And since this fiftieth year, which
METON (Métur). With the name of Meton we was the forty-fourth after the death of Alexander,
join those of PHAEINUS (Pacivós) and EUCTEMON to the four hundred and sixty-third, which is that
(Evrthuwv), all of Athens, contemporaries, and, as of my observation, there have elapsed 419 years. "
to the little which is known of them, inseparable. Such are the data from which, and from the pre-
As to Phacinus, he appears nowhere except in a sumed meaning of a passnge in Diodorus, Meton's
passage of Theophrastus, who says (dle Sigis Tem-solstice, the acknowledged epoch of commencement
pest. sub init. ) that he observed the solar tropics at of the period, has been placed B. C. 432. But
Athens on Lycabettus ; from which Meton learnt we are far from seeing how it has been made out.
the mode of constructing the cycle of nineteen Delambre gives no opinion, but quotes Cassini's,
years. Salmasius has a conjecture which we only which he would not have done on any point in
mention here because it suggested a reverse con- which care or research could have given him one of
jecture. There is in Aratus the following line (at his own. But though the particular date of this
the beginning of the Divsemeia) :
epoch is not fixed to a year or two, the general
'Εννεακαίδεκα κύκλα φαεινού ήελίοιο.
era of Meton is well fixe as well by the datit
above mentioned as by Aelian (Vur. Hist. xiii. 12),
This, says Salmasius, should be paeivoû 'Hielono, who states that he feigned insanity to avoid sailing
or the shining sun here mentioned is Phaeinus offor Sicily in the ill-fated expedition of which he is
Elea. The conjecture has been rejected with stated to have had an evil presentiment.
scorn by Petavius, Weidler, &c. May we not go The length of the year, according to Meton, is
further, and ask whether it ought not to be the stated by Ptolemy as 3654 days and 46 of a day.
other way? Did any Phaeinus give information This is more than half an hour too long. But then
upon tropics to Meton (a known observer them) it should be remembered that this length of the
other than paelvós 'Hénos, Apollo himself? It is year is that deduced from assuming that Meton
worth noting that Phaeinus is a strange adjective, held his own period to be exact. Now it by no
and a strange form of it, for a proper name ; and means follows that in stating the cycle he meant to
that a slight mistake of Theophrastus (no astro- assert that it was mathematically true. Whether
nomer, as far as is known), or of some one whom he he was himself the inventor of this remarkable
copied, might easily have converted the old epithet period, or whether he found it elsewhere, cannot
of the Sun into an astronomer. And there is now be known.
another astronomer, Philip, contemporary with The number of different persons to whom this
Meton, to whom (with Euctemon) Geminus attri- astronomical period has been attributed (Fabric.
butes the cycle of nineteen years, to the exclusion Bill. Gruec. vol. ii. p. 9), may furnish some pre-
of Meton. Here is one confusion in which Philip sumption that Meton only brought forward and
bears a part, and there might easily, bave been made popular a piece knowledge which he and
another.
others had derived from an oriental source: a thing
Much emendation has often been found neces by no means unlikely in itself.
sary when an ancient writer enumerates those who Of Euctemon, independently of his astronomical
have written on subjects which he had not studied partnership with Meton, nothing is known. Ge-
himself: witness the passage in Vitruvius (ix. 7), minus and Ptolemy both frequently refer to him on
in which the older texts and versions join Hippar- the rising and setting of stars, on which is to be
chus and Aratus with Eudaemon, Callistus, and inferred he had left some work. (Ptolemy, Ge-
Melo, for which we must read Euctemon, Callippus, minus, Weidler, Hist. Astron. ; Delambre, Astron.
and Meton.
Anc. ; Petavius, Uranolog. &c. ) (A. De M. ]
As to Meton, the son of Pausanias, and (on METOʻPE (METáan). 1. A daughter of the
either supposition, the follower of Phaeinus, Suidas Arcadian river-god Ladon, was married to Asopus,
calls him Aukovieús (some read AEUkoviEÚS). Pto- and the mother of Thebe. (Apollod. iii. 12. $ 6;
lemy (de Apparent. ) says he observed at Athens, Pind. Ol. vi. 144, with the Schol. )
in the Cyclades, in Macedonia, and in Thrace; 2. A daughter of the river-god Asopus. (Schol.
unless indeed he meant one or two of these places ad Pind. Isthm. viii. 37. )
to be stated of Euctemon. A verse of Phrynichus 3. The wife of the river-god Sangarius and
(preserved by Suidas) describes him as apńvas mother of Hecabe, the wife of Priam. (Apollod.
äywr, whence his skill in hydraulics has been in- iii. 12. $ 5. )
[L. S. )
ferred. The discovery of the cycle of nineteen METO'PUS (MÉTwiOS), & Pythagorean, a
years (CALLIPPUS, and Dict. of Antiq. , s. v. “ Ca- native of Metapontum.
A fragment of a work of
lendar, Greek") is referred to by Aelian (Var. his on virtue is still extant. (Stob. Serm. i. p. 7;
Hist. x. 7), Censorinus (c. 18), Diodorus (xii. Fabric. Bibl. Gruec. vol. i. p. 852. ) [C. P. M. ]
36), Ptolemy (Synt. iii. 2), all of whom note METRO'BIUS (Mntpóblos). 1. One of the
or refer to a column or table erected by Meton at numerous Greek writers on the art of cookery,
Athens, setting forth this cycle and the observa quoted by Athenaeus, was the author of a work
tions of the solstices which were made shortly entitled TaxoUVTOFOLĒKÒV cúgypappa. (Athen.
before the epoch of commencement of the cycle. xiv. p. 643, e. f. )
From Ptolemy's words it appears that the date of 2. An actor, who played women's parts (Avoiwe
4276
20
她的声。
Het
tiera
NM
att
## p. 1070 (#1086) ##########################################
1070
METRODORUS.
METRODORUS.
86s), was a great favourite of the dictator Sulla. , who is quoted more than once by Pliny. He was
(Plut. Sull. 2, 36. )
the instructor of Hippocrates and Anaxarchus.
METROCLES (Mntpoklîs), of Maroneia, a (Diog. Laërt. ix. 58 ; Suidas, s. vv. AnuóKPITUS,
brother of Hipparchia, was at first a disciple of Tuppwv; Fabric. Bill. Gruec. vol. ii. p. 660 ; Voss.
Theophrastus, but afterwards he entered the school de Hist. Graecis, pp. 54, 470, ed. West. )
of Crates, and became a cynic. He seems to have 4. A distinguished Greek philosopher, a native,
been a man of great ability, and having reached an according to some accounts (Strab. xiii. p. 589;
advanced age, he drowned himself. He wrote Cic. Tusc. Disp. v. 37. § 109), of Lampsicus ;
several works, all of which he is said to have burnt ; according to others (Diog. Laërt. x. 22, though the
one of them bore the title of Xpelai, of which a line text in that passage seems to be corrupt), uf
is preserved in Diogenes Laërtius (vi. 6 ; comp. | Athens. This is to some extent confirmed by the
vi. 33, ii. 102 ; Stob. Serm. tit. 116. 48). (L. S. ) fact that his brother, Timocrates, was an Athenian
METRODO’RUS (Mntpóowpus), an officer of citizen of the deme Potamus, in the tribe Leontis
Philip V. of Macedon, with whom, in B. c. 202, (TIMOCRATES) ; but the former account seems to
the Thasians capitulated on condition that they be supported by the best authority. Metrodorus
should not be required to receive a garrison, nor to was the most distinguished of the disciples of Epi-
pay tribute, that they should have no soldiers bil. curus, with whom he lived on terms of the closest
leted on them, and should retain their own laws. friendship, never having left him since he became
Philip, however, broke this agreement and reduced acquainted with him, except for six months on one
them to slavery. (Polyb. xv. 24. ) We learn occasion, when he paid a visit to his home. lle
from a fragment of Polybius that Metrodorus died in B. c. 277, in the 53d year of his age, seven
greatly excited Philip's displeasure, but by what years before Epicurus, who would have appointed
conduct, or on what occasion, does not appear. him his successor had he survived hiin. "He left
(Polyb. Fragm. Hist. xxxii. ; Suid. s. v. 'Avatá- behind him a son named Epicurus, and a daughter,
DELS. ) It was perhaps the same Metrodorus who whom Epicurus, in his will, entrusted to the guar-
is mentioned by Polybius as an ambassador from dianship of Amynomachus and Timocrates, to be
Perseus to the Rhodians, in B. c. 168. (Polyb. brought up under the joint care of themselves and
xxix. 3, 5. )
[E. E. ] Hermachus, and provided for out of the property
METRÓDOʻRUS (Mntpóbwpos), literary. 1. which he left behind him. In a letter also which
Of Cos, the son of Epicharmus, and grandson of he wrote upon his death-bed, Epicurus commended
Thyrsus. Like several of that family he addicted the children to the care of Idomeneus, who had
himself partly to the study of the Pythagorean married Batis, the sister of Metrodorus. The
philosophy, partly to the science of medicine. He 20th of each month was kept by the disciples of
wrote a treatise upon the works of Epicharmus, in Epicurus as a festive day in honour of their master
which, on tne authority of Epicharmus and Pytha- and Metrodorus. Leontium is spoken of as the
goras himself, he maintained that the Doric was wife or mistress of Metrodorus.
the proper dialect of the Orphic hymns. Metro- The philosophy of Metrodorus appears to have
dorus flourished about B. C. 460. (Iamblich. Vit. been of a more grossly sensual kind than that of
Pyth. c. 34. p. 467, ed. Kiessling; Fabric. Bibl. Epicurus. (Cic. de Nat. Deor. i. 40, Tusc. Disp.
Graec. vol. i. p. 852 ; Bode, Gesch. der Hellen. v. 9, de Fin. ii. 28. § 92, 30. $ 99, 31. $ 101. )
Dichtkunst, vol. i. p. 190. )
Perfect happiness, according to Cicero's account,
2. Of LAMPSACUS, a contemporary and friend he made to consist in having a well-constituted
of Anaxagoras. He wrote on Homer, the leading body, and knowing that it would always remain
feature of his system of interpretation being that He found fault with his brother for not ad-
the deities and stories in Homer were to be under- mitting that the belly was the test and measure of
stood as allegorical modes of representing physical every thing that pertained to a happy life. Of the
powers and phenomena. He died B. c. 464. (Plat. writings of Metrodorus Diogenes Laërtius mentions
Ion, C. 2. p. 530, c; Diog. Laërt. ii. 11 ; Tatian. the following: 1. Ipos Tous lampoùs, in three
Assyr. in orat. Ipòs "Exanvas, p. 160, b; Fabric. books ; 2. Tepl aionoew, addressed to Timocrates
Bill. Graec. vol. i. p. 517 ; Voss. de Hist. Graecis, (Cic. de Nul. Deor. i. 40); 3. Tepi meyalovuxias;
p. 180, ed. West. )
4. Περί της Επικούρου αρρωστίας ; 5. Προς τους
3. Of Chios, a disciple of Democritus, or, ac- O aleKTIKOÚS ; 6. Mpòs Tous copiotas, in nine
cording to other accounts, of Nessus of Chios. He books ; 7.
(Comp. Welcker, Die Aeschyl. Tril. p. 278. ) Anima, De Coclo, De Ortu et Interitu, De Memoria
2. A male being, a mystic personification of the et Reminiscentia, De Somno et Vigilia, and others.
power of generation among the so-called Orphics, The Greek text has never been published. A
similar to Phanes and Ericapaeus. (Orph. Fragm. Latin version by Gentianus Hervetus appeared at
vi. 19, viſi, 2. )
[L. S. ] Basel, 155,9, 4to ; reprinted, Ravenna, 1614, 4to ;
METIUS. [Mettius. ]
2. Xpovikov, a Roman history from Julius Caesar
METOCHI'TA, GEOʻRGIUS (repyros to Constantine the Great ; the Greek text, with a
Metoxitos), magnus diaconus in Constantinople, Latin version, by John Meursius, Leyden, 1618.
lived in the thirteenth century. He was an inti- 4to. Regarding the doubts on Metochita's author-
mate friend and staunch adherent of the emperor ship of this work, compare Fabricius ; 3. 'Trouvnua-
Andronicus the Elder, and one of those few Greek Tromol Kal EnuEico Eis yrwulkai, various commen-
divines who advocated the re-union of the Greek taries, essays, sentences, &c. , published under the
and Latin churches. For both these reasons he title Specimina Operum Theod. Melochitae, by
was deposed and exiled, about 1283, by the em- Janus Bloch, Copenhagen, 1790, 8vo. The fol-
peror Andronicus the Younger. He died in exile, lowing are still unpublished :-4. Tepl NewTepe-
but the year of his death is not known. Some say kîs kakondela, De mala recentiorum Consuetudine,
that he was the father of the following Theodore treats on the corruption of the church, especially of
Metochita, with whom several modern writers have the anti-Christian changes introduced into the
confounded him. He wrote different works of no rites. Arcadius made a Latin version of this work,
small importance for the history of the time: his which, however, seems not to have been published.
style is abominable, but full of expressive strength 5. Abyou, eight books on ecclesiastical history, two
and barbarous vigour. 1. 'Artipinois, &c. , or of which are extant in MS. 6. Capita Philosophica
Refutatio trium Capitum Maximi Planudis; 2. et Historica Miscellanea CXX. , of which Fabricius
'Avriponors, &c. , or, Responsio ad ea quae Manuel gives the titles. Their great variety allows us to
Nepos Cretensis publicavit, both publistied together, infer the extensive learning and the speculative
Greek and Latin, by Leo Allatius, in the second genius of Metochita. 7. Michaelis Palaeologi et
volume of Graecia Orthodox. 3. Fragmentum ex Irenes Augustae Epitaphium. 8. Astronomica.
Oratione de Unione Ecclesiarum, published by the Metochita was one of the best astronomers of his
same in his diatribe Contra Hottinger. ; 4. Fragm. time. 9. Commentarii in Ptolemaei Magnam Syn-
er Oratione de Dissidio Ecclesiar. , ibid. ; 5. Trac- taxin, said to be extant in MS. in Spain. (Fabric.
tatus de Processione Spiritus Suncti Patrumque hác Bibl. Graec. vol. X. p. 412, &c. ; Cave, Hist. Lit.
in re Sententiis, divided into five parts or books ; ad ann. 1276, and Wharton, in Append. to Cave,
a fragment of the fourth was published by Com- ad ann. 1301 ; Thomas Magister, Ipoo PoveUTIKOV
béfis in the second volume of Nova Biblioth. Putr. (ad Metochitam) and Epistola (to the same), ed.
and a fragment of the fifth by Leo Allatius in Graec. et Lat. , together with other letters of the
De Purgatorio and Contra Hottinger. , who gives same Thomas, Laurentius Normann, Upsala,
some information on the whole work in his De 1693, 4to. )
(W. P. ]
Consensu utriusque Ecclesiae, p. 771; 6. Oratio METON (Métwv), a citizen of Tarentum, who,
Antirrhetica contra Georgium Cyprium Patriarcham. when the decree was proposed for calling in the
7. Oratio de Sacris Mysteriis ; 8. Explicatio Regu- assistance of Pyrrhus, came into the assembly of
larum S. Nicephori, &c. , and other minor pro- the people, in the garb of a reveller, and accom-
ductions, most of which were known to Leo panied by a flute-player, as if just come from a
Allatius. (Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. X. p. 412, / banquet. When the people laughed at him, and
and
that
Dom
copie
oft
anot
Meu
buir
of Me
bear
anoti
M
sary
Lare
biinsa
chus
Melo
and
either
calls
leny
in ih
unles
to be
(grese
drav,
ferred
Fears
lendar
Hut.
36),
Op rei
Athen
tions
before
Fros
## p. 1069 (#1085) ##########################################
METON.
1069
METROBIUS.
3
29
ܗܳܢܶ
LA
ಜಿ.
called out to him to sing thein a song, he answered, these observations of the solstices made by Meton
" You are right to encourage men to sing and make and Euctenon is thus to be determined (ilalma, i.
merry now while they can, for when Pyrrhus is 163):-" It is said that this observation was mado
arrived we shall have to lead a very different sort at Athens when Apseudes was archon, on the 21st
of life. " By this artifice he produced a great effect of the month Phamenoth, in the morning. Now,
upon the assembly ; but the decree was never from this solstice to that which was observed by
theless carried. (Plut. Pyrrh. 13; Dion Cass. Aristarchus in the fiftieth year of the first period
Fr. Vat. 45, p. 169, ed. Mai ; Dionys. xvii. of Calippus, there have elapsed, as Hipparchus says,
13, 14. )
(E. H. B. ) 152 years. And since this fiftieth year, which
METON (Métur). With the name of Meton we was the forty-fourth after the death of Alexander,
join those of PHAEINUS (Pacivós) and EUCTEMON to the four hundred and sixty-third, which is that
(Evrthuwv), all of Athens, contemporaries, and, as of my observation, there have elapsed 419 years. "
to the little which is known of them, inseparable. Such are the data from which, and from the pre-
As to Phacinus, he appears nowhere except in a sumed meaning of a passnge in Diodorus, Meton's
passage of Theophrastus, who says (dle Sigis Tem-solstice, the acknowledged epoch of commencement
pest. sub init. ) that he observed the solar tropics at of the period, has been placed B. C. 432. But
Athens on Lycabettus ; from which Meton learnt we are far from seeing how it has been made out.
the mode of constructing the cycle of nineteen Delambre gives no opinion, but quotes Cassini's,
years. Salmasius has a conjecture which we only which he would not have done on any point in
mention here because it suggested a reverse con- which care or research could have given him one of
jecture. There is in Aratus the following line (at his own. But though the particular date of this
the beginning of the Divsemeia) :
epoch is not fixed to a year or two, the general
'Εννεακαίδεκα κύκλα φαεινού ήελίοιο.
era of Meton is well fixe as well by the datit
above mentioned as by Aelian (Vur. Hist. xiii. 12),
This, says Salmasius, should be paeivoû 'Hielono, who states that he feigned insanity to avoid sailing
or the shining sun here mentioned is Phaeinus offor Sicily in the ill-fated expedition of which he is
Elea. The conjecture has been rejected with stated to have had an evil presentiment.
scorn by Petavius, Weidler, &c. May we not go The length of the year, according to Meton, is
further, and ask whether it ought not to be the stated by Ptolemy as 3654 days and 46 of a day.
other way? Did any Phaeinus give information This is more than half an hour too long. But then
upon tropics to Meton (a known observer them) it should be remembered that this length of the
other than paelvós 'Hénos, Apollo himself? It is year is that deduced from assuming that Meton
worth noting that Phaeinus is a strange adjective, held his own period to be exact. Now it by no
and a strange form of it, for a proper name ; and means follows that in stating the cycle he meant to
that a slight mistake of Theophrastus (no astro- assert that it was mathematically true. Whether
nomer, as far as is known), or of some one whom he he was himself the inventor of this remarkable
copied, might easily have converted the old epithet period, or whether he found it elsewhere, cannot
of the Sun into an astronomer. And there is now be known.
another astronomer, Philip, contemporary with The number of different persons to whom this
Meton, to whom (with Euctemon) Geminus attri- astronomical period has been attributed (Fabric.
butes the cycle of nineteen years, to the exclusion Bill. Gruec. vol. ii. p. 9), may furnish some pre-
of Meton. Here is one confusion in which Philip sumption that Meton only brought forward and
bears a part, and there might easily, bave been made popular a piece knowledge which he and
another.
others had derived from an oriental source: a thing
Much emendation has often been found neces by no means unlikely in itself.
sary when an ancient writer enumerates those who Of Euctemon, independently of his astronomical
have written on subjects which he had not studied partnership with Meton, nothing is known. Ge-
himself: witness the passage in Vitruvius (ix. 7), minus and Ptolemy both frequently refer to him on
in which the older texts and versions join Hippar- the rising and setting of stars, on which is to be
chus and Aratus with Eudaemon, Callistus, and inferred he had left some work. (Ptolemy, Ge-
Melo, for which we must read Euctemon, Callippus, minus, Weidler, Hist. Astron. ; Delambre, Astron.
and Meton.
Anc. ; Petavius, Uranolog. &c. ) (A. De M. ]
As to Meton, the son of Pausanias, and (on METOʻPE (METáan). 1. A daughter of the
either supposition, the follower of Phaeinus, Suidas Arcadian river-god Ladon, was married to Asopus,
calls him Aukovieús (some read AEUkoviEÚS). Pto- and the mother of Thebe. (Apollod. iii. 12. $ 6;
lemy (de Apparent. ) says he observed at Athens, Pind. Ol. vi. 144, with the Schol. )
in the Cyclades, in Macedonia, and in Thrace; 2. A daughter of the river-god Asopus. (Schol.
unless indeed he meant one or two of these places ad Pind. Isthm. viii. 37. )
to be stated of Euctemon. A verse of Phrynichus 3. The wife of the river-god Sangarius and
(preserved by Suidas) describes him as apńvas mother of Hecabe, the wife of Priam. (Apollod.
äywr, whence his skill in hydraulics has been in- iii. 12. $ 5. )
[L. S. )
ferred. The discovery of the cycle of nineteen METO'PUS (MÉTwiOS), & Pythagorean, a
years (CALLIPPUS, and Dict. of Antiq. , s. v. “ Ca- native of Metapontum.
A fragment of a work of
lendar, Greek") is referred to by Aelian (Var. his on virtue is still extant. (Stob. Serm. i. p. 7;
Hist. x. 7), Censorinus (c. 18), Diodorus (xii. Fabric. Bibl. Gruec. vol. i. p. 852. ) [C. P. M. ]
36), Ptolemy (Synt. iii. 2), all of whom note METRO'BIUS (Mntpóblos). 1. One of the
or refer to a column or table erected by Meton at numerous Greek writers on the art of cookery,
Athens, setting forth this cycle and the observa quoted by Athenaeus, was the author of a work
tions of the solstices which were made shortly entitled TaxoUVTOFOLĒKÒV cúgypappa. (Athen.
before the epoch of commencement of the cycle. xiv. p. 643, e. f. )
From Ptolemy's words it appears that the date of 2. An actor, who played women's parts (Avoiwe
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1070
METRODORUS.
METRODORUS.
86s), was a great favourite of the dictator Sulla. , who is quoted more than once by Pliny. He was
(Plut. Sull. 2, 36. )
the instructor of Hippocrates and Anaxarchus.
METROCLES (Mntpoklîs), of Maroneia, a (Diog. Laërt. ix. 58 ; Suidas, s. vv. AnuóKPITUS,
brother of Hipparchia, was at first a disciple of Tuppwv; Fabric. Bill. Gruec. vol. ii. p. 660 ; Voss.
Theophrastus, but afterwards he entered the school de Hist. Graecis, pp. 54, 470, ed. West. )
of Crates, and became a cynic. He seems to have 4. A distinguished Greek philosopher, a native,
been a man of great ability, and having reached an according to some accounts (Strab. xiii. p. 589;
advanced age, he drowned himself. He wrote Cic. Tusc. Disp. v. 37. § 109), of Lampsicus ;
several works, all of which he is said to have burnt ; according to others (Diog. Laërt. x. 22, though the
one of them bore the title of Xpelai, of which a line text in that passage seems to be corrupt), uf
is preserved in Diogenes Laërtius (vi. 6 ; comp. | Athens. This is to some extent confirmed by the
vi. 33, ii. 102 ; Stob. Serm. tit. 116. 48). (L. S. ) fact that his brother, Timocrates, was an Athenian
METRODO’RUS (Mntpóowpus), an officer of citizen of the deme Potamus, in the tribe Leontis
Philip V. of Macedon, with whom, in B. c. 202, (TIMOCRATES) ; but the former account seems to
the Thasians capitulated on condition that they be supported by the best authority. Metrodorus
should not be required to receive a garrison, nor to was the most distinguished of the disciples of Epi-
pay tribute, that they should have no soldiers bil. curus, with whom he lived on terms of the closest
leted on them, and should retain their own laws. friendship, never having left him since he became
Philip, however, broke this agreement and reduced acquainted with him, except for six months on one
them to slavery. (Polyb. xv. 24. ) We learn occasion, when he paid a visit to his home. lle
from a fragment of Polybius that Metrodorus died in B. c. 277, in the 53d year of his age, seven
greatly excited Philip's displeasure, but by what years before Epicurus, who would have appointed
conduct, or on what occasion, does not appear. him his successor had he survived hiin. "He left
(Polyb. Fragm. Hist. xxxii. ; Suid. s. v. 'Avatá- behind him a son named Epicurus, and a daughter,
DELS. ) It was perhaps the same Metrodorus who whom Epicurus, in his will, entrusted to the guar-
is mentioned by Polybius as an ambassador from dianship of Amynomachus and Timocrates, to be
Perseus to the Rhodians, in B. c. 168. (Polyb. brought up under the joint care of themselves and
xxix. 3, 5. )
[E. E. ] Hermachus, and provided for out of the property
METRÓDOʻRUS (Mntpóbwpos), literary. 1. which he left behind him. In a letter also which
Of Cos, the son of Epicharmus, and grandson of he wrote upon his death-bed, Epicurus commended
Thyrsus. Like several of that family he addicted the children to the care of Idomeneus, who had
himself partly to the study of the Pythagorean married Batis, the sister of Metrodorus. The
philosophy, partly to the science of medicine. He 20th of each month was kept by the disciples of
wrote a treatise upon the works of Epicharmus, in Epicurus as a festive day in honour of their master
which, on tne authority of Epicharmus and Pytha- and Metrodorus. Leontium is spoken of as the
goras himself, he maintained that the Doric was wife or mistress of Metrodorus.
the proper dialect of the Orphic hymns. Metro- The philosophy of Metrodorus appears to have
dorus flourished about B. C. 460. (Iamblich. Vit. been of a more grossly sensual kind than that of
Pyth. c. 34. p. 467, ed. Kiessling; Fabric. Bibl. Epicurus. (Cic. de Nat. Deor. i. 40, Tusc. Disp.
Graec. vol. i. p. 852 ; Bode, Gesch. der Hellen. v. 9, de Fin. ii. 28. § 92, 30. $ 99, 31. $ 101. )
Dichtkunst, vol. i. p. 190. )
Perfect happiness, according to Cicero's account,
2. Of LAMPSACUS, a contemporary and friend he made to consist in having a well-constituted
of Anaxagoras. He wrote on Homer, the leading body, and knowing that it would always remain
feature of his system of interpretation being that He found fault with his brother for not ad-
the deities and stories in Homer were to be under- mitting that the belly was the test and measure of
stood as allegorical modes of representing physical every thing that pertained to a happy life. Of the
powers and phenomena. He died B. c. 464. (Plat. writings of Metrodorus Diogenes Laërtius mentions
Ion, C. 2. p. 530, c; Diog. Laërt. ii. 11 ; Tatian. the following: 1. Ipos Tous lampoùs, in three
Assyr. in orat. Ipòs "Exanvas, p. 160, b; Fabric. books ; 2. Tepl aionoew, addressed to Timocrates
Bill. Graec. vol. i. p. 517 ; Voss. de Hist. Graecis, (Cic. de Nul. Deor. i. 40); 3. Tepi meyalovuxias;
p. 180, ed. West. )
4. Περί της Επικούρου αρρωστίας ; 5. Προς τους
3. Of Chios, a disciple of Democritus, or, ac- O aleKTIKOÚS ; 6. Mpòs Tous copiotas, in nine
cording to other accounts, of Nessus of Chios. He books ; 7.
