was Atreus, according to Homer, or, according to the more probable
opinion of Hesiod, Apollodorus, &c., he was the son of Plisthenes and
Ærope. _See:_ Plisthenes. He was educated with his brother Agamemnon
in the house of Atreus, but soon after the death of this monarch,
Thyestes his brother usurped the kingdom, and banished the two
children of Plisthenes. Menelaus and Agamemnon came to the court
of Œneus king of Calydonia, who treated them with tenderness and
paternal care. From Calydonia they went to Sparta, where, like the
rest of the Grecian princes, they solicited the marriage of Helen
the daughter of king Tyndarus. By the artifice and advice of Ulysses,
Helen was permitted to choose a husband, and she fixed her eyes upon
Menelaus, and married him, after her numerous suitors had solemnly
bound themselves by an oath to defend her, and protect her person
against the violence or assault of every intruder. _See:_ Helena. As
soon as the nuptials were celebrated, ♦Tyndarus resigned the crown to
his son-in-law, and their happiness was complete. This was, however,
of short duration; Helen was the fairest woman of the age, and Venus
had promised Paris the son of Priam to reward him with such a beauty.
_See:_ Paris. The arrival of Paris in Sparta was the cause of great
revolutions. The absence of Menelaus in Crete gave opportunities to
the Trojan prince to corrupt the fidelity of Helen, and to carry away
home what the goddess of beauty had promised to him as his due. This
action was highly resented by Menelaus; he reminded the Greek princes
of their oath and solemn engagements when they courted the daughter
of Tyndarus, and immediately all Greece took up arms to defend his
cause. The combined forces assembled at Aulis in Bœotia, where they
chose Agamemnon for their general, and Calchas for their high priest;
and after their applications to the court of Priam for the recovery
of Helen had proved fruitless, they marched to meet their enemies in
the field. During the Trojan war Menelaus behaved with great spirit
and courage, and Paris must have fallen by his hand, had not Venus
interposed and redeemed him from certain death. He also expressed his
wish to engage Hector, but Agamemnon hindered him from fighting so
powerful an adversary. In the tenth year of the Trojan war, Helen,
as it is reported, obtained the forgiveness and the good graces of
Menelaus by introducing him with Ulysses, the night that Troy was
reduced to ashes, into the chamber of Deiphobus, whom she had married
after the death of Paris. This perfidious conduct totally reconciled
her to her first husband; and she returned with him to Sparta, during
a voyage of eight years. He died some time after his return. He had
a daughter called Hermione, and Nicostratus, according to some, by
Helen, and a son called Megapenthes by a concubine. Some say that
Menelaus went to Egypt on his return from the Trojan war to obtain
Helen, who had been detained there by the king of the country. _See:_
Helena. The palace which Menelaus once inhabited was still entire in
the days of Pausanias, as well as the temple which had been raised to
his memory by the people of Sparta. _Homer_, _Odyssey_, bk. 4, &c.;
_Iliad_, bk. 1, &c.――_Apollodorus_, bk. 3, ch. 10.――_Pausanias_, bk.
3, chs. 14 & 19.――_Dictys Cretensis_, bk. 2, &c.――_Virgil_, _Æneid_,
bk. 2, &c.――_Quintus Smyrnæus_ bk. 14.――_Ovid_, _Heroides_, poems 5
& 13.――_Hyginus_ fable 79.――_Euripides_, _Iphigeneia_.――_Propertius_,
bk. 2.――_Sophocles._――――A lieutenant of Ptolemy, set over Salamis.
_Polyænus._――_Pausanias._――――A city of Egypt. _Strabo_, bk. 14.――――A
mathematician in the age of the emperor Trajan.
♦ ‘Tyndaros’ replaced with ‘Tyndarus’
=Menēnius Agrippa=, a celebrated Roman who appeased the Roman populace
in the infancy of the consular government by repeating the well-known
fable of the belly and limbs. He flourished 495 B.C. _Livy_, bk. 2,
chs. 16, 32, 33.――――A Roman consul.――――An insane person in the age of
Horace.
=Menĕphron=, a man who attempted to offer violence to his own mother.
He was changed into a wild beast. _Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 7,
li. 387.
=Mēnes=, the first king of Egypt. He built the town of Memphis, as is
generally supposed, and deserved, by his abilities and popularity,
to be called a god after death. _Herodotus_, bk. 2, chs. 1 & 90.
――_Diodorus_, bk. 1.
=Menesthēi portus=, a town of Hispania ♦Bætica.
♦ ‘Bœtica’ replaced with ‘Bætica’
=Menesteus=, =Menestheus=, or =Mnestheus=, a son of Pereus, who so
insinuated himself into the favour of the people of Athens, that,
during the long absence of Theseus, he was elected king. The lawful
monarch at his return home was expelled, and Mnestheus established
his usurpation by his popularity and great moderation. As he had
been one of Helen’s suitors, he went to the Trojan war at the head of
the people of Athens, and died in his return in the island of Melos.
He reigned 23 years B.C. 1205, and was succeeded by Demophoon the
son of Theseus. _Plutarch_, _Theseus_.――――A son of Iphicrates, who
distinguished himself in the Athenian armies. _Cornelius Nepos_,
_Timoleon_.
=Menesthius=, a Greek killed by Paris in the Trojan war.
=Menetas=, a man set governor over Babylon by Alexander. _Curtius_,
bk. 5, ch. 1.
=Meninx=, or =Lotophagītis insula=, now _Zerbi_, an island on the
coast of Africa, near the Syrtis Minor. It was peopled by the people
of Neritos, and thence called _Neritia_. _Pliny_, bk. 5, ch. 7.
――_Strabo_, bk. 17.――_Silius Italicus_, bk. 3, li. 318.
=Menippa=, one of the Amazons who assisted Ætes, &c.
=Menippides=, a son of Hercules. _Apollodorus._
=Menippus=, a cynic philosopher of Phœnicia. He was originally a slave,
and obtained his liberty with a sum of money, and became one of the
greatest usurers at Thebes. He grew so desperate from the continual
reproaches and insults to which he was daily exposed on account of
his meanness, that he destroyed himself. He wrote 13 books of satires,
which have been lost. Marcus Varro composed satires in imitation of
his style, and called them _Menippean_.――――A native of Stratonice,
who was preceptor to Cicero for some time. _Cicero_, _Brutus_, ch. 91.
=Menius=, a plebeian consul at Rome. He was the first who made the
rostrum at Rome with the beaks (_rostra_) of the enemy’s ships.――――A
son of Lycaon, killed by the same thunderbolt which destroyed his
father. _Ovid_, _Ibis_, li. 472.
=Mennis=, a town of Assyria abounding in bitumen. _Curtius_, bk. 5,
ch. 1.
=Menodŏtus=, a physician.――――A Samian historian.
=Menœceus=, a Theban, father of Hipponome, Jocasta, and Creon.――――A
young Theban, son of Creon. He offered himself to death when Tiresias,
to ensure victory on the side of Thebes against the Argive forces,
ordered the Thebans to sacrifice one of the descendants of those who
sprang from the dragon’s teeth, and he killed himself near the cave
where the dragon of Mars had formerly resided. The gods required this
sacrifice because the dragon had been killed by Cadmus, and no sooner
was Creon dead than his countrymen obtained the victory. _Statius_,
_Thebiad_, bk. 10, li. 614.――_Euripides_, _Phœnician Women_.
――_Apollodorus_, bk. 3, ch. 6.――_Cicero_, _Tusculanæ Disputationes_,
bk. 1, ch. 98.――_Sophocles_, _Antigone_.
=Menœtes=, the pilot of the ship Gyas, at the naval games exhibited by
Æneas at the anniversary of his father’s death. He was thrown into
the sea by Gyas for his inattention, and saved himself by swimming to
a rock. _Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 5, li. 161, &c.――――An Arcadian, killed
by Turnus in the wars of Æneas. _Æneid_, bk. 12, li. 517.
=Menœtiades.= _See:_ Menœtius.
=Menœtius=, a son of Actor and Ægina after her amour with Jupiter.
He left his mother and went to Opus, where he had, by Sthenele,
or, according to others, by Philomela or Polymela, Patroclus, often
called from him _Menœtiades_. Menœtius was one of the Argonauts.
_Apollodorus_, bk. 4, ch. 24.――_Homer_, _Iliad_, bk. 1, li. 307.
――_Hyginus_, fable 97.
=Menon=, a Thessalian commander in the expedition of Cyrus the younger
against his brother Artaxerxes. He was dismissed on the suspicion
that he had betrayed his fellow-soldiers. _Diodorus_, bk. 14.――――A
Thessalian refused the freedom of Athens, though he furnished a
number of auxiliaries to the people.――――The husband of Semiramis.
――――A sophist in the age of Socrates.――――One of the first kings of
Phrygia. _Dionysius of Halicarnassus._――――A scholar of Phidias, &c.
=Menophĭlus=, a eunuch to whom Mithridates, when conquered by Pompey,
entrusted the care of his daughter. Menophilus murdered the princess
for fear of her falling into the enemy’s hands. _Ammianus_, bk. 16.
=Menta=, or =Minthe=. _See:_ Minthe.
=Mentes=, a king of the Taphians in Ætolia, son of Anchialus, in the
time of the Trojan war.
=Mentissa=, a town of Spain. _Livy_, bk. 26, ch. 17.
=Mento=, a Roman consul, &c.
=Mentor=, a faithful friend of Ulysses.――――A son of Hercules.――――A king
of Sidonia, who revolted against Artaxerxes Ochus, and afterwards was
restored to favour by his treachery to his allies, &c. _Diodorus_,
bk. 16.――――An excellent artist in polishing cups and engraving flowers
on them. _Pliny_, bk. 33, ch. 11.――_Martial_, bk. 9, ltr. 63, ltr. 16.
=Menyllus=, a Macedonian set over the garrison which Antipater had
stationed at Athens. He attempted in vain to corrupt the innocence of
Phocion. _Plutarch._
=Mera=, a priest of Venus. _Statius_, _Thebiad_, bk. 8, li. 478.――――A
dog of Icarius, which by his cries showed Erigone where her murdered
father had been thrown. Immediately after this discovery the daughter
hung herself in despair, and the dog pined away, and was made a
constellation in the heavens known by the name of Canis. _Ovid_,
_Metamorphoses_, bk. 7, li. 363.――_Hyginus_, fable 130.――_Ælian_,
_Varia Historia_, bk. 7, ch. 28.
=Mera=, or =Mœra=, one of the Atlantides, who married Tegeates son of
Lycaon. _Pausanias_, bk. 8, ch. 48.
=Mercurii promontorium=, a cape of Africa near Clypea. _Livy_, bk. 26,
ch. 44; bk. 29, ch. 27.――_Pliny_, bk. 5, ch. 4.
=Mercŭrius=, a celebrated god of antiquity, called Hermes by the Greeks.
There were no less than five of this name according to Cicero; a son
of Cœlus and Lux; a son of Valens and Coronis; a son of the Nile; a
son of Jupiter and Maia; and another called by the Egyptians Thaut.
Some add a sixth, a son of Bacchus and Proserpine. To the son of
Jupiter and Maia, the actions of all the others have been probably
attributed, as he is the most famous and the best known. Mercury
was the messenger of the gods, and of Jupiter in particular; he was
the patron of travellers and of shepherds; he conducted the souls
of the dead into the infernal regions, and not only presided over
orators, merchants, declaimers, but he was also the god of thieves,
pickpockets, and all dishonest persons. His name is derived _a
mercibus_, because he was the god of merchandise among the Latins.
He was born, according to the more received opinion, in Arcadia, on
mount Cyllene, and in his infancy he was entrusted to the care of the
Seasons. The day that he was born, or more probably the following day,
he gave an early proof of his craftiness and dishonesty, in stealing
away the oxen of Admetus which Apollo tended. He gave another proof
of his thievish propensity, by taking also the quiver and arrows of
the divine shepherd, and he increased his fame by robbing Neptune of
his trident, Venus of her girdle, Mars of his sword, Jupiter of his
sceptre, and Vulcan of many of his mechanical instruments. These
specimens of his art recommended him to the notice of the gods, and
Jupiter took him as his messenger, interpreter, and cup-bearer in
the assembly of the gods. This last office he discharged till the
promotion of Ganymede. He was presented by the king of heaven with
a winged cap called _petasus_, and with wings for his feet called
_talaria_. He had also a short sword called _herpe_, which he lent
to Perseus. With these he was enabled to go into whatever part of the
universe he pleased with the greatest celerity; and besides, he was
permitted to make himself invisible, and to assume whatever shape
he pleased. As messenger of Jupiter he was entrusted with all his
secrets. He was the ambassador and plenipotentiary of the gods, and
he was concerned in all alliances and treaties. He was the confidant
of Jupiter’s amours, and he often was set to watch over the jealousy
and intrigues of Juno. The invention of the lyre and its seven
strings is ascribed to him. This he gave to Apollo, and received in
exchange the celebrated caduceus with which the god of poetry used
to drive the flocks of king Admetus. _See:_ Caduceus. In the wars of
the giants against the gods, Mercury showed himself brave, spirited,
and active. He delivered Mars from the long confinement which he
suffered from the superior power of the Aloides. He purified the
Danaides of the murder of their husbands, he tied Ixion to his wheel
in the infernal regions, he destroyed the hundred-eyed Argus, he
sold Hercules to Omphale the queen of Lydia, he conducted Priam to
the tent of Achilles, to redeem the body of his son Hector, and he
carried the infant Bacchus to the nymphs of Nysa. Mercury had many
surnames and epithets. He was called Cyllenius, Caduceator, Acacetos,
from Acacos, an Arcadian; Acacesius, Tricephalos, Triplex, Chthonius,
Camillus, Agoneus, Delius, Arcas, &c. His children are also numerous
as well as his amours. He was father of Autolycus by Chione; of
Myrtillus by Cleobula; of Libys by Libya; of Echion and Eurytus by
Antianira; of Cephalus by Creusa; of Prylis by Issa; and of Priapus,
according to some. He was also father of Hermaphroditus by Venus; of
Eudorus by Polimela; of Pan by Dryope, or Penelope. His worship was
well established, particularly in Greece, Egypt, and Italy. He was
worshipped at Tanagra in Bœotia, under the name of Criophorus, and
represented as carrying a ram on his shoulders, because he delivered
the inhabitants from a pestilence by telling them to carry a ram in
that manner round the walls of their city. The Roman merchants yearly
celebrated a festival on the 15th of May, in honour of Mercury, in a
temple near the Circus Maximus. A pregnant sow was then sacrificed,
and sometimes a calf and particularly the tongues of animals were
offered. After the votaries had sprinkled themselves with water with
laurel leaves, they offered prayers to the divinity, and entreated
him to be favourable to them, and to forgive whatever artful measures,
false oaths, or falsehoods they had used or uttered in the pursuit
of gain. Sometimes Mercury appears on monuments with a large cloak
round his arm, or tied under his chin. The chief ensigns of his power
and offices are his _caduceus_, his _petasus_, and his _talaria_.
Sometimes he is represented sitting upon a crayfish, holding in one
hand his caduceus, and in the other the claws of the fish. At other
times he is like a young man without a beard, holding in one hand
a purse, as being the tutelary god of merchants, with a cock on his
wrists as an emblem of vigilance, and at his feet a goat, a scorpion,
and a fly. Some of his statues represented him as a youth _fascino
erecto_. Sometimes he rests his foot upon a tortoise. In Egypt
his statues represented him with the head of a dog, whence he was
often confounded with Anubis, and received the sacrifice of a stork.
Offerings of milk and honey were made because he was the god of
eloquence, whose powers were sweet and persuasive. The Greeks and
Romans offered tongues to him by throwing them into the fire, as
he was the patron of speaking of which the tongue is the organ.
Sometimes his statues represent him as without arms, because,
according to some, the power of speech can prevail over everything,
even without the assistance of arms. _Homer_, _Odyssey_, bk. 1, &c.;
_Iliad_, bk. 1, &c.; _Hymn to Hermes_.――_Lucian_, _Dialogi Mortuorum_.
――_Ovid_, _Fasti_, bk. 5, li. 667; _Metamorphoses_, bks. 1, 4,
11, 14.――_Martial_, bk. 9, ltr. 35.――_Statius_, _Thebiad_, bk. 4.
――_Pausanias_, bks. 1, 7, 8, & 9.――_Orpheus._――_Plutarch_, _Numa_.
――_Varro_, _de Lingua Latina_, bk. 6.――_Plato_, _Phædras_.――_Livy_,
bk. 36.――_Virgil_, _Georgics_, bk. 1; _Æneid_, bk. 1, li. 48.
――_Diodorus_, bks. 4 & 5.――_Apollodorus_, bks. 1, 2, & 3.
――_Apollonius_, _Argonautica_, bk. 1.――_Horace_, bk. 1, ode 10.
――_Hyginus_, _Poetica Astronomica_, bk. 2.――_Tzetzes_, _Lycophron_,
li. 219.――_Cicero_, _de Natura Deorum_.――_Lactantius [Placidus].
_――_Philostratus_, bk. 1, _Imagines_, ch. 27.――_Marcus Manilius.
_――_Macrobius_, bk. 1, _Saturnalia_, ch. 19.――――Trismegistus, a
priest and philosopher of Egypt, who taught his countrymen how to
cultivate the olive, and measure their lands, and to understand
hieroglyphics. He lived in the age of Osiris, and wrote 40 books
on theology, medicine, and geography, from which Sanchoniathon the
Phœnician historian has taken his theogonia. _Diodorus_, bks. 1, & 5.
――_Plutarch_, _de Iside et Osiride_.――_Cicero_, bk. 3, _de Natura
Deorum_.
=Merĕtrix=, a name under which Venus was worshipped at Abydos and at
Samos, because both those places had been benefited by the intrigues
or the influence of courtesans. _Athenæus_, bk. 13.
=Mēriŏnes=, a charioteer of Idomeneus king of Crete during the Trojan
war, son of Molus, a Cretan prince, and Melphidis. He signalized
himself before Troy, and fought with Deiphobus the son of Priam,
whom he wounded. He was greatly admired by the Cretans, who even
paid him divine honours after death. _Horace_, bk. 1, ode 6,
li. 15.――_Homer_, _Iliad_, bk. 2, &c.――_Dictys Cretensis_, bk. 1,
&c.――_Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 13, fable 1.――――A brother of Jason
son of Æson, famous for his great opulence and for his avarice.
_Polyænus_, bk. 6, ch. 1.
=Mermĕros=, a centaur. _Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 12, li. 305.――――A
Trojan, killed by Antilochus.――――A son of Jason and Medea, who was
father to Ilus of Corinth. _Pausanias_, bk. 2, ch. 3.
=Mermnadæ=, a race of kings in Lydia, of which Gyges was the first.
They sat on the Lydian throne till the reign of Crœsus, who was
conquered by Cyrus king of Persia. They were descendants of the
Heraclidæ, and probably received the name of Mermnadæ from Mermnas,
one of their own family. They were descended from Lemnos, or,
according to others, from Agelaus, the son of Omphale by Hercules.
_Herodotus_, bk. 1, chs. 7 & 14.
=Meroe=, now _Nuabia_, an island of Æthiopia, with a town of the same
name, celebrated for its wines. Its original name was _Saba_, and
Cambyses gave it that of Meroe from his sister. _Strabo_, bk. 17.
――_Herodotus_, bk. 2, ch. 31.――_Pliny_, bk. 2, ch. 173.――_Mela_,
bk. 1.――_Lucan_, bk. 4, lis. 3, 33; bk. 10, lis. 163 & 303. =Merŏpe=,
one of the Atlantides. She married Sisyphus son of Æolus, and, like
her sisters, was changed into a constellation after death. _See:_
Pleiades. It is said, that in the constellation of the Pleiades the
star of Merope appears more dim and obscure than the rest, because
she, as the poets observe, married a mortal, while her sisters
married some of the gods or their descendants. _Ovid_, _Fasti_, bk. 4,
li. 175.――_Diodorus_, bk. 4.――_Hyginus_, fable 192.――_Apollodorus_,
bk. 1, ch. 9.――――A daughter of Cypselus, who married Cresphontes
king of Messenia, by whom she had three children. Her husband and two
of her children were murdered by Polyphontes. The murderer obliged
her to marry him, and she would have been forced to comply had not
Epytus or Telephontes, her third son, revenged his father’s death by
assassinating Polyphontes. _Apollodorus_, bk. 2, ch. 6.――_Pausanias_,
bk. 4, ch. 3.――――A daughter of Œnopion, beloved by Orion.
_Apollodorus_, bk. 1, ch. 4.――――A daughter of the Cebrenus, who
married Æsacus the son of Priam.――――A daughter of Erechtheus, mother
of Dædalus. _Plutarch_, _Theseus_.――――A daughter of Pandarus.――――A
daughter of the river Sangarius, who married king Priam.
=Merops=, a king of the island of Cos, who married Clymene, one
of the Oceanides. He was changed into an eagle and placed among
the constellations. _Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 1, li. 763.
――_Apollodorus_, bk. 3.――_Hyginus_, _Poetica astronomica_, bk. 2,
ch. 16.――――A celebrated soothsayer of Percosus in Troas, who foretold
the death of his sons Adrastus and Amphius, who were engaged in the
Trojan war. They slighted their father’s advice, and were killed by
Diomedes. _Homer_, _Iliad_, bk. 2.――――One of the companions of Æneas,
killed by Turnus. _Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 9, li. 702.
=Meros=, a mountain of India sacred to Jupiter. It is called by Pliny,
bk. 6, ch. 21, Nysa. Bacchus was educated upon it, whence arose the
fable that Bacchus was confined in the thigh (μηρος) of his father.
_Mela_, bk. 2, ch. 7.――_Pliny_, bk. 8, ch. 13.――_Curtius_, bk. 8,
ch. 10.――_Diodorus_, bk. 1.
=Merŭla Cornelius=, a Roman who fought against the Gauls, and who was
made consul by Octavius in the place of Cinna. He some time after
killed himself in despair, &c. _Plutarch._
=Mesabătes=, a eunuch in Persia, flayed alive by order of Parysatis,
because he had cut off the head and right hand of Cyrus. _Plutarch_,
_Artaxerxes_.
=Mesabius=, a mountain of Bœotia, hanging over the Euripus. _Pausanias_,
bk. 9, ch. 22.
=Mesapia=, an ancient name of Bœotia.
=Mesaubius=, a servant of Eumæus the steward of Ulysses. _Homer_,
_Odyssey_, bk. 14, li. 449.
=Mesembria=, now _Miseuria_, a maritime city of Thrace. Hence
_Mesembriacus_. _Ovid_, bk. 1, _Tristia_, bk. 6, li. 37.――――Another
at the mouth of the Lissus.
=Mesene=, an island in the Tigris where Apamea was built, now _Disel_.
_Pliny_, bk. 6, ch. 27.
=Mesomēdes=, a lyric poet in the age of the emperor Antoninus.
=Mesopotămia=, a country of Asia, which receives its name from its
situation (μεσος ποταμος) _between_ the _rivers_ Tigris and Euphrates.
It is yearly inundated by the Euphrates, and the water properly
conveyed over the country by canals. It is now called _Diarbec_.
_Strabo_, bk. 2.――_Mela_, bk. 1, ch. 11.――_Cicero_, _de Natura
Deorum_, bk. 2, ch. 52.
=Messāla=, a name of Valerius Corvinus, from his having conquered
Messana in Sicily. This family was very ancient; the most celebrated
was a friend of Brutus, who seized the camp of Augustus at Philippi.
He was afterwards reconciled to Augustus, and died A.D. 9, in his
77th year. _Plutarch._――――Another consul, &c.――――The father of
Valeria, who married the dictator Sylla. _Plutarch._――――A great
flatterer at the court of Tiberius.――――A governor of Syria.――――A
tribune in one of the Roman legions during the civil war between
Vespasian and Vitellius, of which he wrote an historical account
mentioned by Tacitus, _Dialogue on Oratory_, ch. 14.――――A consul with
Domitius, &c.――――A painter at Rome, who flourished B.C. 235.――――A
writer, whose book _de Augusti progenie_ was edited 12mo, Leiden,
1648.
=Messalīna Valeria=, a daughter of Messala Barbatus. She married
the emperor Claudius, and disgraced herself by her cruelties and
incontinence. Her husband’s palace was not the only seat of her
lasciviousness, but she prostituted herself in the public streets,
and few men there were at Rome who could not boast of having enjoyed
the favours of the impure Messalina. Her extravagancies at last
irritated her husband; he commanded her to appear before him to
answer all the accusations which were brought against her, upon which
she attempted to destroy herself, and when her courage failed, one of
the tribunes, who had been sent to her, despatched her with his sword,
A.D. 48. It is in speaking of her debaucheries and lewdness that a
celebrated satirist says,
_Et lassata viris, necdum satiata, recessit_.
_Juvenal._――_Tacitus_, _Annals_, bk. 11, ch. 37.――_Suetonius_,
_Claudius_.――_Dio Cassius._――――Another, called also Statilia. She
was descended from a consular family, and married the consul Atticus
Vistinus, whom Nero murdered. She received with great marks of
tenderness her husband’s murderer and married him. She had married
four husbands before she came to the imperial throne; and after
the death of Nero she retired to literary pursuits and peaceful
occupations. Otho courted her, and would have married her had he not
destroyed himself. In his last moments he wrote her a very pathetic
and consolatory letter, &c. _Tacitus_, _Annals_.
=Messālīnus Marcus Valerius=, a Roman officer in the reign of Tiberius.
He was appointed governor of Dalmatia, and rendered himself known by
his opposition to Piso, and by his attempts to persuade the Romans
of the necessity of suffering women to accompany the camps on
their different expeditions. _Tacitus_, _Annals_, bk. 3.――――One
of Domitian’s informers.――――A flatterer of the emperor Tiberius.