lake Fucinus in Italy, in a country chequered with forests, abounding
with wild boars and other ferocious animals. They at first proved
very inimical to the Romans, but in process of time they became their
firmest supporters. They are particularly celebrated for the civil
war in which they were engaged, and which from them has received the
name of the _Marsian war_. The large contributions which they made
to support the interest of Rome, and the number of men which they
continually supplied to the republic, rendered them bold and aspiring,
and they claimed, with the rest of the Italian states, a share of
the honours and privileges which were enjoyed by the citizens of
Rome, B.C. 91. This petition, though supported by the interest, the
eloquence, and the integrity of the tribune Drusus, was received
with contempt by the Roman senate; and the Marsi, with their allies,
showed their dissatisfaction by taking up arms. Their resentment
was increased when Drusus, their friend at Rome, had been basely
murdered by the means of the nobles; and they erected themselves into
a republic, and Corfinium was made the capital of their new empire. A
regular war was now begun, and the Romans led into the field an army
of 100,000 men, and were opposed by a superior force. Some battles
were fought in which the Roman generals were defeated, and the allies
reaped no inconsiderable advantages from their victories. A battle,
however, near Asculum, proved fatal to their cause: 4000 of them
were left dead on the spot; their general, Francus, a man of uncommon
experience and abilities, was slain, and such as escaped from the
field perished by hunger in the Apennines, where they had sought a
shelter. After many defeats, and the loss of Asculum, one of their
principal cities, the allies, grown dejected and tired of hostilities
which had already continued for three years, sued for peace one by
one, and tranquillity was at last re-established in the republic, and
all the states of Italy were made citizens of Rome. The armies of the
allies consisted of the Marsi, the Peligni, the Vestini, the Hirpini,
Pompeiani, Marcini, Picentes, Venusini, Ferentani, Apuli, Lucani, and
Samnites. The Marsi were greatly addicted to magic. _Horace_, epode 5,
li. 76; epode 27, li. 29.――_Appian._――_Valerius Maximus_, bk. 8.
――_Paterculus_, bk. 2.――_Plutarch_, _Sertorius_, _Caius Marius_, &c.
――_Cicero_, _For Cornelius Balbus_.――_Strabo._――_Tacitus_, _Annals_,
bk. 1, chs. 50 & 56; _Germania_, ch. 2.
=Marsigni=, a people of Germany. _Tacitus_, _Germania_, ch. 43.
=Marsus Domitius=, a Latin poet.
=Marsyaba=, a town of Arabia.
=Marsyas=, a celebrated piper of Celænæ, in Phrygia, son of Olympus,
or of Hyagnis, or Œagrus. He was so skilful in playing on the
flute, that he is generally deemed the inventor of it. According to
the opinion of some, he found it when Minerva had thrown it aside
on account of the distortion of her face when she played upon it.
Marsyas was enamoured of Cybele, and he travelled with her as far as
Nysa, where he had the imprudence to challenge Apollo to a trial of
his skill as a musician. The god accepted the challenge, and it was
mutually agreed that he who was defeated should be flayed alive by
the conquerer. The Muses, or according to Diodorus, the inhabitants
of Nysa, were appointed umpires. Each exerted his utmost skill,
and the victory, with much difficulty, was adjudged to Apollo. The
god, upon this, tied his antagonist to a tree, and flayed him alive.
The death of Marsyas was universally lamented; the Fauns, Satyrs,
and Dryads wept at his fate, and from their abundant tears, arose a
river of Phrygia, well known by the name of Marsyas. The unfortunate
Marsyas is often represented on monuments as tied, his hands behind
his back, to a tree, while Apollo stands before him with his lyre
in his hand. In independent cities among the ancients the statue
of Marsyas was generally erected in the forum, to represent the
intimacy which subsisted between Bacchus and Marsyas, as the emblems
of liberty. It was also erected at the entrance of the Roman forum,
as a spot where usurers and merchants resorted to transact business,
being principally intended _in terrorem litigatorum_; a circumstance
to which Horace seems to allude, bk. 1, satire 6, li. 120. At
Celænæ, the skin of Marsyas was shown to travellers for some time;
it was suspended in the public place in the form of a bladder, or a
foot-ball. _Hyginus_, fable 165.――_Ovid_, _Fasti_, bk. 6, li. 707;
_Metamorphoses_, bk. 6, fable 7.――_Diodorus_, bk. 3.――_Silius
Italicus_, bk. 8, li. 503.――_Pliny_, bk. 5, ch. 29; bk. 7, ch. 56.
――_Pausanias_, bk. 10, ch. 30.――_Apollodorus_, bk. 1, ch. 4.――――The
sources of the Marsyas were near those of the Mæander, and those two
rivers had their confluence a little below the town of Celænæ. _Livy_,
bk. 38, ch. 13.――_Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 2, li. 265.――_Lucan_,
bk. 3, li. 208.――――A writer who published a history of Macedonia,
from the first origin and foundation of that empire till the reign of
Alexander, in which he lived.――――An Egyptian who commanded the armies
of Cleopatra against her brother Ptolemy Physcon, whom she attempted
to dethrone.――――A man put to death by Dionysius the tyrant of Sicily.
=Martha=, a celebrated prophetess of Syria, whose artifice and fraud
proved of the greatest service to Caius Marius in the numerous
expeditions which he undertook. _Plutarch_, _Caius Marius_.
=Martia=, a vestal virgin, put to death for her incontinence.――――A
daughter of Cato. _See:_ Marcia.
=Martia aqua=, water at Rome, celebrated for its clearness and
salubrity. It was conveyed to Rome, at the distance of above 30 miles,
from the lake Fucinus, by Ancus Martius, whence it received its name.
_Tibullus_, bk. 3, poem 7, li. 26.――_Pliny_, bk. 31, ch. 3; bk. 36,
ch. 15.
=Martiāles ludi=, games celebrated at Rome in honour of Mars.
=Martiālis Marcus Valerius=, a native of Bilbilis, in Spain, who came
to Rome about the 20th year of his age, where he recommended himself
to notice by his poetical genius. As he was the panegyrist of the
emperors, he gained the greatest honours, and was rewarded in the
most liberal manner. Domitian gave him the tribuneship; but the
poet, unmindful of the favours he received, after the death of his
benefactor, exposed to ridicule the vices and cruelties of a monster,
whom in his lifetime he had extolled as the pattern of virtue,
goodness, and excellence. Trajan treated the poet with coldness, and
Martial, after he had passed 35 years in the capital of the world, in
the greatest splendour and affluence, retired to his native country,
where he had the mortification to be the object of malevolence,
satire, and ridicule. He received some favours from his friends, and
his poverty was alleviated by the ♦liberality of Pliny the younger,
whom he had panegyrized in his poems. Martial died about the 104th
year of the christian era, in the 75th year of his age. He is now
well known by the 14 books of epigrams which he wrote, and whose
merit is now best described by the candid confession of the author
in this line,
_Sunt bona, sunt quædam mediocria, sunt mala plura._
But the genius which he displays in some of his epigrams deserves
commendation, though many critics are liberal in their censure upon
his style, his thoughts, and particularly upon his puns, which are
often low and despicable. In many of his epigrams the poet has shown
himself a declared enemy to decency, and the book is to be read with
caution which can corrupt the purity of morals, and initiate the
votaries of virtue in the mysteries of vice. It has been observed of
Martial, that his talent was epigrams. Everything which he did was
the subject of an epigram. He wrote inscriptions upon monuments in
the epigrammatical style, and even a new year’s gift was accompanied
with a distich, and his poetical pen was employed in begging a favour
as well as in satirizing a fault. The best editions of Martial are
those of Rader, folio, Mogunt. 1627; of Schriverius, 12mo, Leiden,
1619; and of Smids, 8vo, Amsterdam, 1701.――――A friend of Otho.――――A
man who conspired against Caracalla.
♦ ‘liberalty’ replaced with ‘liberality’
=Martiānus.= _See:_ Marcianus.
=Martīna=, a woman skilled in the knowledge of poisonous herbs, &c.
_Tacitus_, _Annals_, bk. 2, ch. 79, &c.
=Martiniānus=, an officer, made Cæsar by ♦Licinius, to oppose
Constantine. He was put to death by order of Constantine.
♦ ‘Linicius’ replaced with ‘Licinius’
=Martius=, a surname of Jupiter in Attica, expressive of his power and
valour. _Pausanias_, bk. 5, ch. 14.――――A Roman consul sent against
Perseus, &c.――――A consul against the Dalmatians, &c.――――Another, who
defeated the Carthaginians in Spain.――――Another, who defeated the
Privernates, &c.
=Marullus=, a tribune of the people, who tore the garlands which had
been placed upon Cæsar’s statues, and who ordered those that had
saluted him king to be imprisoned. He was deprived of his consulship
by Julius Cæsar. _Plutarch._――――A governor of Judæa.――――A Latin poet
in the age of Marcus Aurelius. He satirized the emperor with great
licentiousness, but his invectives were disregarded, and himself
despised.
=Marus= (the _Morava_), a river of Germany, which separates modern
Hungary and Moravia. _Tacitus_, _Annals_, bk. 2, ch. 63.
=Massa Bæbius=, an informer at the court of Domitian. _Juvenal_,
satire 1, li. 35.
=Masæsylii=, a people of Libya, where Syphax reigned. _See:_ Massyla.
=Masinissa=, son of Gala, was king of a small part of Africa, and
assisted the Carthaginians in their wars against Rome. He proved
a most indefatigable and courageous ally, but an act of generosity
rendered him amicable to the interests of Rome. After the defeat of
Asdrubal, Scipio, the first Africanus who had obtained the victory,
found, among the prisoners of war, one of the nephews of Masinissa.
He sent him back to his uncle loaded with presents, and conducted
him with a detachment for the safety and protection of his person.
Masinissa was struck with the generous action of the Roman general;
he forgot all former hostilities, and joined his troops to those of
Scipio. This change of sentiments was not the effect of a wavering
or unsettled mind, but Masinissa showed himself the most attached
and the firmest ally the Romans ever had. It was to his exertions
they owed many of their victories in Africa, and particularly in
that battle which proved fatal to Asdrubal and Syphax. The Numidian
conqueror, charmed with the beauty of Sophonisba, the captive wife
of Syphax, carried her to his camp and married her; but when he
perceived that this new connection displeased Scipio, he sent poison
to his wife, and recommended her to destroy herself, since he could
not preserve her life in a manner which became her rank, her dignity,
and fortune, without offending his Roman allies. In the battle
of Zama, Masinissa greatly contributed to the defeat of the great
Annibal, and the Romans, who had been so often spectators of his
courage and valour, rewarded his fidelity with the kingdom of Syphax,
and some of the Carthaginian territories. At his death Masinissa
showed the confidence which he had in the Romans, and the esteem he
entertained for the rising talents of Scipio Æmilianus, by entrusting
him with the care of his kingdom, and empowering him to divide it
among his sons. Masinissa died in the 97th year of his age, after
a reign of above 60 years, 149 years before the christian era. He
experienced adversity as well as prosperity, and in the first years
of his reign he was exposed to the greatest danger, and obliged often
to save his life by seeking a retreat among his savage neighbours.
But his alliance with the Romans was the beginning of his greatness,
and he ever after lived in the greatest affluence. He is remarkable
for the health which he long enjoyed. In the last years of his
life he was seen at the head of his armies behaving with the most
indefatigable activity, and he often remained for many successive
days on horseback without a saddle under him, or a covering upon his
head, and without showing the least mark of fatigue. This strength
of mind and body he chiefly owed to the temperance which he observed.
He was seen eating brown bread at the door of his tent like a private
soldier the day after he had obtained an immortal victory over the
armies of Carthage. He left 54 sons, three of whom were legitimate,
Micipsa, Gulussa, and Manastabal. The kingdom was fairly divided
among them by Scipio, and the illegitimate children received,
as their portion, very valuable presents. The death of Gulussa
and Manastabal soon after left Micipsa sole master of the large
possessions of Masinissa. _Strabo_, bk. 17.――_Polybius._――_Appian_,
_Lybica [Punic Wars]_.――_Cicero_, _de Senectute_.――_Valerius Maximus_,
bk. 8.――_Sallust_, _Jugurthine War_.――_Livy_, bk. 25, &c.――_Ovid_,
_Fasti_, bk. 6, li. 769.――_Justin_, bk. 33, ch. 1; bk. 38, ch. 6.
=Maso=, a name common to several persons mentioned by Cicero.
=Massăga=, a town of India, taken by Alexander the Great.
=Massăgĕte=, a people of Scythia, who had their wives in common, and
dwelt in tents. They had no temples, but worshipped the sun, to
whom they offered horses, on account of their swiftness. When their
parents had come to a certain age, they generally put them to death,
and ate their flesh mixed with that of cattle. Authors are divided
with respect to the place of their residence. Some place them near
the Caspian sea, others at the north of the Danube, and some confound
them with the Getæ and the Scythians. _Horace_, bk. 1, ode 35, li.
40.――_Dionysius Periegeta_, li. 738.――_Herodotus_, bk. 1, ch. 204.
――_Strabo_, bk. 1.――_Mela_, bk. 1, ch. 2.――_Lucan_, bk. 2, li. 50.
――_Justin_, bk. 1, ch. 8.
=Massāna.= _See:_ Messana.
=Massāni=, a nation at the mouth of the Indus.
=Massĭcus=, a mountain of Campania near Minturnæ, famous for its wine,
which even now preserves its ancient character. _Pliny_, bk. 14,
ch. 6.――_Horace_, bk. 1, ode 1, li. 19.――_Virgil_, _Georgics_, bk. 2,
li. 143.――――An Etrurian prince, who assisted Æneas against Turnus
with 1000 men. _Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 10, li. 166, &c.
=Massilia=, a maritime town of Gaul Narbonensis, now called
_Marseilles_, founded B.C. 539, by the people of Phocæa, in Asia,
who quitted their country to avoid the tyranny of the Persians. It
is celebrated for its laws, its fidelity for the Romans, and for
its being long the seat of literature. It acquired great consequence
by its commercial pursuits during its infancy, and even waged
war against Carthage. By becoming the ally of Rome, its power was
established; but in warmly espousing the cause of Pompey against
Cæsar, its views were frustrated, and it was so much reduced by
the insolence and resentment of the conqueror, that it never after
recovered its independence and warlike spirit. _Herodotus_, bk. 1,
ch. 164.――_Pliny_, bk. 3, ch. 4.――_Justin_, bk. 37, &c.――_Strabo_,
bk. 1.――_Livy_, bk. 5, ch. 3.――_Horace_, epode 16.――_Florus_, bk. 4,
ch. 2.――_Cicero_, _For Flaccus_, ch. 26; _De Officiis_, bk. 2,
♦ch. 28.――_Tacitus_, _Annals_, bk. 4, ch. 44; _Agricola_, ch. 4.
♦ ‘8’ replaced with ‘28’
=Massȳla=, an inland part of Mauritania near mount Atlas. When the
inhabitants, called _Massyli_, went on horseback, they never used
saddles or bridles, but only sticks. Their character was warlike,
their manners simple, and their love of liberty unconquerable. Some
suppose them to be the same as the Masæylii, though others say half
the country belonged only to this last-mentioned people. _Livy_,
bk. 24, ch. 48; bk. 28, ch. 17; bk. 29, ch. 32.――_Silius Italicus_,
bk. 3, li. 282; bk. 16, li. 171.――_Lucan_, bk. 4, li. 682.――_Virgil_,
_Æneid_, bk. 4, li. 132.
=Mastramela=, a lake near Marseilles, now _mer de Martegues_. _Pliny_,
bk. 3, ch. 4.
=Măsŭrius=, a Roman knight under Tiberius, learned, but poor. _Persius_,
bk. 5, li. 90.
=Masus Domitius=, a Latin poet. _See:_ Domitius.
=Matho=, an infamous informer, patronized by Domitian. _Juvenal_,
satire 1, li. 32.
=Matiēni=, a people in the neighbourhood of Armenia.
=Matĭnus=, a mountain of Apulia, abounding in yew trees and bees.
_Lucan_, bk. 9, li. 184.――_Horace_, bk. 4, ode 2, li. 27; epode 16,
li. 28.
=Matisco=, a town of the Ædui in Gaul, now called _Macon_.
=Matrālia=, a festival at Rome, in honour of Matuta or Ino. Only matrons
and freeborn women were admitted. They made offerings of flowers, and
carried their relations’ children in their arms, recommending them to
the care and patronage of the goddess whom they worshipped. _Varro_,
_de Lingua Latina_, bk. 5, ch. 22.――_Ovid_, _Fasti_, bk. 6, li. 47.
――_Plutarch_, _Camillus_.
=Matrōna=, a river of Gaul, now called the _Marne_, falling into the
Seine. _Ausonius_, _Mosella_, li. 462.――――One of the surnames of Juno,
because she presided over marriage and over child-birth.
=Matronālia=, festivals at Rome in honour of Mars, celebrated by
married women, in commemoration of the rape of the Sabines, and of
the peace which their intreaties had obtained between their fathers
and husbands. Flowers were then offered in the temples of Juno.
_Ovid_, _Fasti_, bk. 3, li. 229.――_Plutarch_, _Romulus_.
=Mattiăci=, a nation of Germany, now _Marpurg_, in Hesse. The _Mattiacæ
aquæ_ was a small town, now _Wisbaden_, opposite Mentz. _Tacitus_,
_Germania_, ch. 29; _Annals_, bk. 1, ch. 56.
=Mātūta=, a deity among the Romans, the same as the Leucothoe of the
Greeks. She was originally Ino, who was changed into a sea deity
[_See:_ Ino and Leucothoe], and she was worshipped by sailors as such,
at Corinth, in a temple sacred to Neptune. Only married women and
freeborn matrons were permitted to enter her temples at Rome, where
they generally brought the children of their relations in their arms.
_Livy_, bk. 5, &c.――_Cicero_, _de Natura Deorum_, bk. 3, li. 19.
=Mavors=, a name of Mars. _See:_ Mars.
=Mavortia=, an epithet applied to every country whose inhabitants were
warlike, but especially to Rome, founded by the reputed son of Mavors.
_Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 1, li. 280, and to Thrace, _Æneid_, bk. 3,
li. 13.
=Mauri=, the inhabitants of Mauritania. This name is derived from their
black complexion (μαυροι). Everything among them grew in greater
abundance and greater perfection than in other countries. _Strabo_,
bk. 17.――_Martial_, bk. 5, ltr. 29; bk. 12, ltr. 67.――_Silius
Italicus_, bk. 4, li. 569; bk. 10, li. 402.――_Mela_, bk. 1, ch. 5;
bk. 3, ch. 10.――_Justin_, bk. 19, ch. 2.――_Sallust_, _Jugurthine War_.
――_Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 4, li. 206.
=Mauritānia=, a country on the western part of Africa, which forms the
modern kingdom of _Fez_ and _Morocco_. It was bounded on the west by
the Atlantic, south by Gætulia, and north by the Mediterranean, and
is sometimes called _Maurusia_. It became a Roman province in the
reign of the emperor Claudius. _See:_ Mauri.
=Maurus=, a man who flourished in the reign of Trajan, or, according to
others, of the Antonini. He was governor of Syene, in Upper Egypt. He
wrote a Latin poem upon the rules of poetry and versification.
=Maurūsii=, the people of Maurusia, a country near the columns of
Hercules. It is also called Mauritania. _See:_ Mauritania. _Virgil_,
_Æneid_, bk. 4, li. 206.
=Mausōlus=, a king of Caria. His wife Artemisia was so disconsolate
at his death, which happened B.C. 353, that she drank up his ashes,
and resolved to erect one of the grandest and noblest monuments of
antiquity, to celebrate the memory of a husband whom she tenderly
loved. This famous monument, which passed for one of the seven
wonders of the world, was called _Mausoleum_, and from it all other
magnificent sepulchres and tombs have received the same name. It was
built by four different architects. Scopas erected the side which
faced the east, Timotheus had the south, Leochares had the west, and
Bruxis the north. Pithis was also employed in raising a pyramid over
this stately monument, and the top was adorned by a chariot drawn by
four horses. The expenses of this edifice were immense, and this gave
an occasion to the philosopher Anaxagoras to exclaim, when he saw it,
“How much money changed into stones!” _See:_ Artemisia. _Herodotus_,
bk. 7, ch. 99.――_Strabo_, bk. 14.――_Diodorus_, bk. 16.――_Pausanias_,
bk. 8, ch. 16.――_Florus_, bk. 4, ch. 11.――_Aulus Gellius_, bk. 10, ch.
18.――_Propertius_, bk. 3, poem 2, li. 21.――_Suetonius_, _Augustus_,
ch. 100.
=Maxentius Marcus Aurelius Valerius=, a son of the emperor Maximianus
Hercules. Some suppose him to have been a supposititious child. The
voluntary abdication of Diocletian, and of his father, raised him in
the state, and he declared himself independent emperor, or Augustus,
A.D. 306. He afterwards incited his father to reassume his imperial
authority, and in a perfidious manner destroyed Severus, who had
delivered himself into his hands and relied upon his honour for
the safety of his life. His victories and successes were impeded
by Galerius Maximianus, who opposed him with a powerful force. The
defeat and voluntary death of Galerius soon restored peace to Italy,
and Maxentius passed into Africa, where he rendered himself odious
by his cruelty and oppression. He soon after returned to Rome, and
was informed that Constantine was come to dethrone him. He gave his
adversary battle near Rome, and, after he had lost the victory, he
fled back to the city. The bridge over which he crossed the Tiber
was in a decayed state, and he fell into the river and was drowned,
on the 24th of September, A.D. 317. The cowardice and luxuries of
Maxentius are as conspicuous as his cruelties. He oppressed his
subjects with heavy taxes to gratify the cravings of his pleasures,
or the avarice of his favourites. He was debauched in his manners,
and neither virtue nor innocence were safe whenever he was inclined
to voluptuous pursuits. He was naturally deformed, and of an unwieldy
body. To visit a pleasure ground, or to exercise himself under a
marble portico, or to walk on a shady terrace, was to him a Herculean
labour, which required the greatest exertions of strength and
resolution.
=Cornelius Maximiliāna=, a vestal virgin, buried alive for incontinency,
A.D. 92.