Danae. It was situate on a small river at the east of the Inachus,
about 50 stadia from Argos, and received its name from Mycene,
a nymph of Laconia. It was once the capital of a kingdom, whose
monarchs reigned in the following order: Acrisius, 1344 B.C.; Perseus,
Electryon, Mæstor, and Sthenelus, and Sthenelus alone for eight years;
Atreus and Thyestes, Agamemnon, Ægysthus, Orestes, Æpytus, who was
dispossessed 1104 B.C., on the return of the Heraclidæ. The town of
Mycenæ was taken and laid in ruins by the Argives, B.C. 568; and it
was almost unknown where it stood in the age of the geographer Strabo.
_Pausanias_, bk. 2, ch. 16.――_Strabo_, bk. 8.――_Virgil_, _Æneid_,
bk. 6, li. 839.――_Mela_, bk. 2, ch. 3. The word _Mycenæus_ is used
for Agamemnon, as he was one of the kings of Mycenæ.
=Mycēnis= (idis), a name applied to Iphigenia, as residing at Mycenæ.
_Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 12, li. 34.
=Mycerīnus=, a son of Cheops king of Egypt. After the death of his
father he reigned with great justice and moderation. _Herodotus_,
bk. 2, ch. 129.
=Myciberna=, a town of the Hellespont. _Diodorus_, bk. 12.
=Mycithus=, a servant of Anaxilaus tyrant of Rhegium. He was entrusted
with the care of the kingdom, and of the children of the deceased
prince, and he exercised his power with such fidelity and moderation,
that he acquired the esteem of all the citizens, and at last restored
the kingdom to his master’s children when come to years of maturity,
and retired to peace and solitude with a small portion. He is called
by some Micalus. _Justin_, bk. 4, ch. 2.
=Mycon=, a celebrated painter, who with others assisted in making and
perfecting the _Pœcile_ of Athens. He was the rival of Polygnotus.
_Pliny_, bks. 33 & 35.――――A youth of Athens changed into a poppy by
Ceres.
=Mycŏnos= (or e), one of the Cyclades between Delos and Icaria, which
received its name from Myconus, an unknown person. It is about three
miles at the east of Delos, and is 36 miles in circumference. It
remained long uninhabited on account of the frequent earthquakes
to which it was subject. Some suppose that the giants whom Hercules
killed were buried under that island, whence arose the proverb of
_everything is under Mycone_, applied to those who treat of different
subjects under one and the same title, as if none of the defeated
giants had been buried under no other island or mountain about Mycone.
Strabo observes, and his testimony is supported by that of modern
travellers, that the inhabitants of Mycone became bald very early,
even at the age of 20 or 25, from which circumstance they were called,
by way of contempt, _the bald heads of Mycone_. Pliny says that
the children of the place were always born without hair. The island
was poor, and the inhabitants very avaricious; whence Archilochus
reproached a certain Pericles, that he came to a feast like a
Myconian, that is, without previous invitation. _Virgil_, _Æneid_,
bk. 3, li. 76.――_Strabo_, bk. 10.――_Pliny_, bk. 11, ch. 37; bk. 12,
ch. 7; bk. 14, ch. 1.――_Athenæus_, bk. 1.――_Thucydides_, bk. 3, ch.
29.――_Mela_, bk. 2, ch. 7.――_Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 7, li. 463.
=Mydon=, one of the Trojan chiefs who defended Troy against the Greeks.
He was killed by Antilochus. _Homer_, _Iliad_, bk. 5, li. 580.
=Myecphŏris=, a town in Egypt, in a small island near Bubastis.
=Myēnus=, a mountain of Ætolia. _Plutarch_, _de Fluviis_.
=Mygdon=, a brother of Amycus, killed in a war against Hercules.――――A
brother of Hecuba. _See:_ Mygdonus.
=Mygdŏnia=, a small province of Macedonia, near Thrace, between
the rivers Axius and Strymon. The inhabitants, called _Mygdones_,
migrated into Asia, and settled near Troas, where the country
received the name of their ancient habitation. Cybele was called
_Mygdonia_, from the worship she received in Mygdonia in Phrygia.
_Horace_, bk. 2, ode 12, li. 22; bk. 3, ode 16, li. 41.――_Ovid_,
_Metamorphoses_, bk. 6, li. 45.――――A small province of Mesopotamia
bears also the name of Mygdonia, and was probably peopled by a
Macedonian colony. _Flaccus_, bk. 3, &c.――_Pliny_, bk. 4, ch. 10.
――_Ovid_, _Heroides_, poem 20.――_Horace_, bk. 2, ode 12.
=Mygdŏnus=, or =Mygdon=, a brother of Hecuba, Priam’s wife, who reigned
in part of Thrace. His son Corœbus was called _Mygdonides_, from him.
_Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 2, li. 341.――_Homer_, _Iliad_, bk. 3.――――A
small river running through Mesopotamia.
=Mylassa= (orum), a town of Caria. _Livy_, bk. 38, ch. 39.
=Myle=, or =Mylas=, a small river on the east of Sicily, with a town of
the same name. _Livy_, bk. 24, chs. 30 & 31.――_Suetonius_, _Augustus_,
ch. 16.――――Also a town of Thessaly, now _Mulazzo_. _Livy_, bk. 42,
ch. 54.
=Myles=, a son of Lelex.
=Mylitta=, a surname of Venus among the Assyrians, in whose temples
all the women were obliged to prostitute themselves to strangers.
_Herodotus_, bk. 1, chs. 131 & 199.――_Strabo_, bk. 16.
=Myndus=, a maritime town of Caria near Halicarnassus. _Cicero_,
_Letters to his Friends_, bk. 3, ltr. 8.――_Mela_, bk. 1, ch. 16.
――_Pliny_, bk. 5, ch. 29.
=Mynes=, a prince of Lyrnessus, who married Briseis. He was killed by
Achilles, and his wife became the property of the conqueror. _Homer_,
_Iliad_, bk. 3.
=Myniæ.= _See:_ Minyæ.
=Myŏnia=, a town of Phocis. _Pausanias._
=Myonēsus=, a town and promontory of Ionia, now _Jalanghi-Liman_.
_Livy_, bk. 37, chs. 13 & 27.
=Myra= (orum, or æ), a town of Lycia, on a high hill, two miles from
the sea. _Pliny_, bk. 5, ch. 27.――_Strabo_, bk. 14.
=Myriandros=, a town of Seleucia in Syria, on the bay of Issus, which
is sometimes called _Sinus Myriandricus_. _Livy_, bk. 2, ch. 108.
=Myrīna=, a maritime town of Æolia, called also _Sebastopolis_, and
now _Sanderlic_. _Tacitus_, _Annals_, bk. 2, ch. 47.――_Livy_, bk. 33,
ch. 30.――_Strabo_, bk. 13.――――A queen of the Amazons, &c. _Dionysius
of Halicarnassus_, bk. 4.――――A town of Lemnos, now _Palio Castro_.
_Pliny_, bk. 4, ch. 12.――――A town of Asia, destroyed by an earthquake
in Trajan’s reign.――――The wife of Thoas king of Lemnos, by whom she
had ♦Hypsipyle.
♦ ‘Hipsipyle’ replaced with ‘Hypsipyle’ for consistency
=Myrīnus=, a surname of Apollo, from Myrina in Æolia, where he was
worshipped.――――A gladiator. _Martial_, bk. 12, ltr. 29.
=Myriœ=, a town of Arcadia, called also Megalopolis.
=Myrlææ=, or =Apamea=, a town of Bithynia. _Pliny_, bk. 5, ch. 32.
=Myrmecĭdes=, an artist of Miletus, mentioned as making chariots
so small that they could be covered by the wing of a fly. He also
inscribed an elegiac distich on a grain of Indian sesamum. _Cicero_,
bk. 4, _Academica._――_Ælian_, _Varia Historia_, bk. 1.
=Myrmĭdŏnes=, a people on the southern borders of Thessaly, who
accompanied Achilles to the Trojan war. They received their name from
Myrmidon, a son of Jupiter and Eurymedusa, who married one of the
daughters of Æolus son of Hellen. His son Actor married Ægina the
daughter of the Asopus. He gave his name to his subjects, who dwelt
near the river Peneus in Thessaly. According to some, the Myrmidons
received their name from their having been originally ants, μυρμηκες.
_See:_ Æacus. According to Strabo, they received it from their
industry, because they imitated the diligence of the ants, and like
them were indefatigable, and were continually employed in cultivating
the earth. _Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 1, li. 654.――_Strabo._
――_Hyginus_, fable 52.
=Myron=, a tyrant of Sicyon.――――A man of Priene, who wrote a history
of Messenia. _Pausanias_, bk. 4, ch. 6.――――A celebrated statuary of
Greece, peculiarly happy in imitating nature. He made a cow so much
resembling life, that even bulls were deceived and approached her
as if alive, as is frequently mentioned by many epigrams in the
Anthologia. He flourished about 442 years before Christ. _Ovid_,
_Ars Amatoria_, bk. 3, li. 319.――_Pausanias._――_Juvenal_ satire 8.
――_Propertius_, bk. 2, poem 41.
=Myronianus=, an historian. _Diogenes Laërtius._
=Myronides=, an Athenian general who conquered the Thebans. _Polyænus._
=Myrrha=, a daughter of Cinyras king of Cyprus. She became enamoured
of her father, and introduced herself into his bed unknown. She had
a son by him, called Adonis. When Cinyras was apprised of the incest
he had committed, he attempted to stab his daughter, and Myrrha
fled into Arabia, where she was changed into a tree called myrrh.
_Hyginus_, fables 58 & 275.――_Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 10, li. 298.
――_Plutarch_, _Parallela minora_.――_Apollodorus_, bk. 3.
=Myrsĭlus=, a son of Myrsus, the last of the Heraclidæ who reigned in
Lydia. He is also called Candaules. _See:_ Candaules.
=Myrsus=, the father of Candaules. _Herodotus_, bk. 1, ch. 7.――――A
Greek historian in the age of Solon.
=Myrtăle=, a courtesan of Rome, mistress to the poet Horace, bk. 1,
ode 33.
=Myrtea=, a surname of Venus. _See:_ Murtia.
=Myrtĭlus=, son of Mercury and Phaetusa, or Cleobule, or Clymene, was
arm-bearer to Œnomaus king of Pisa. He was so experienced in riding
and in the management of horses, that he rendered those of Œnomaus
the swiftest in all Greece. His infidelity proved at last fatal
to him. Œnomaus had been informed by an oracle that his daughter
Hippodamia’s husband would cause his death, and on that account
he resolved to marry her only to him who should overcome him in a
chariot race. This seemed totally impossible, and to render it more
terrible, Œnomaus declared that death would be the consequence of a
defeat in the suitors. The charms of Hippodamia were so great, that
many sacrificed their life in the fruitless endeavour to obtain her
hand. Pelops at last presented himself, undaunted at the fate of
those who had gone before him, but before he entered the course he
bribed Myrtilus, and assured him that he should share Hippodamia’s
favours if he returned victorious from the race. Myrtilus, who was
enamoured of Hippodamia, gave an old chariot to Œnomaus, which broke
in the course and caused his death. Pelops gained the victory, and
married Hippodamia; and when Myrtilus had the audacity to claim the
reward promised to his perfidy, Pelops threw him headlong into the
sea, where he perished. The body of Myrtilus, according to some,
was carried by the waves to the sea-shore, where he received an
honourable burial, and as he was the son of Mercury, he was made
a constellation. _Diodorus_, bk. 4.――_Hyginus_, fable 84 & 224.
――_Pausanias_, bk. 8, ch. 14.――_Apollonius_, bk. 1.
=Myrtis=, a Greek woman who distinguished herself by her poetical
talents. She flourished about 500 years B.C., and instructed the
celebrated Corinna in the several rules of versification. Pindar
himself, as some report, was also one of her pupils.
=Myrtōum mare=, a part of the Ægean sea which lies between Eubœa,
Attica, and Peloponnesus, as far as cape Melea. It receives this
name from Myrto, a woman; or from Myrtos, a small island opposite
to Carystos in Eubœa; or from Myrtilus the son of Mercury, who was
drowned there, &c. _Pausanias_, bk. 8, ch. 14.――_Hyginus_, fable 84.
――_Pliny_, bk. 4, ch. 11.
=Myrtuntium=, a name given to that part of the sea which lies on the
coast of Epirus, between the bay of Ambracia and Leucas.
=Myrtūsa=, a mountain of Libya. _Callimachus_, _Hymn to Apollo_.
=Mys= (Myos), an artist famous in working and polishing silver. He
beautifully represented the battle of the Centaurs and Lapithæ, on a
shield in the hand of Minerva’s statue made by Phidias. _Pausanias_,
bk. 1, ch. 28.――_Martial_, bk. 8, ltrs. 34 & 51; bk. 14, ltr. 93.
――_Propertius_, bk. 3, poem 9, li. 14.
=Myscellus=, or =Miscellus=, a native of Rhypæ in Achaia, who founded
Crotona in Italy according to an oracle, which told him to build a
city where he found rain with fine weather. The meaning of the oracle
long perplexed him, till he found a beautiful woman all in tears in
Italy, which circumstance he interpreted in his favour. According
to some, Myscellus, who was the son of Hercules, went out of
Argos without the permission of the magistrates, for which he was
condemned to death. The judges had put each a black ball as a sign
of condemnation, but Hercules changed them all and made them white,
and had his son acquitted, upon which Myscellus left Greece and came
to Italy, where he built Crotona. _Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 15,
li. 19.――_Strabo_, bks. 6 & 8.――_Suidas._
=Mysia=, a country of Asia Minor, generally divided into major and
minor. Mysia minor was bounded on the north and west by the Propontis
and Bithynia, and Phrygia on the southern and eastern borders. Mysia
major had Æolia on the south, the Ægean on the west, and Phrygia on
the north and east. Its chief cities were Cyzicum, Lampsacus, &c.
The inhabitants were once very warlike, but they greatly degenerated;
and the words _Mysorum ultimus_ were emphatically used to signify a
person of no merit. The ancients generally hired them to attend their
funerals as mourners, because they were naturally melancholy and
inclined to shed tears. They were once governed by monarchs. They
are supposed to be descended from the Mysians of Europe, a nation
which inhabited that part of Thrace which was situate between mount
Hæmus and the Danube. _Strabo._――_Herodotus_, bk. 1, &c.――_Cicero_,
_Against Verres_.――_Flaccus_, ch. 27.――_Florus_, bk. 3, ch. 5.
――_Appian_, _Mithridatic Wars_.――――A festival in honour of Ceres,
surnamed Mysia from Mysias, an Argive, who raised her a temple near
Pallene in Achaia. Some derive the words ἀπο του μυσιαν, _to cloy_,
or _satisfy_, because Ceres was the first who satisfied the wants of
men by giving them corn. The festival continued during seven days, &c.
=Myson=, a native of Sparta, one of the seven wise men of Greece.
When Anacharsis consulted the oracle of Apollo, to know which was
the wisest man in Greece, he received for answer, he who was now
ploughing his fields. This was Myson. _Diogenes Laërtius_, _Lives
and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers_.
=Mystes=, a son of the poet Valgius, whose early death was so lamented
by the father, that Horace wrote an ode to allay the grief of his
friend. _Horace_, bk. 2, ode 9.
=Mythecus=, a sophist of Syracuse. He studied cookery, and when he
thought himself sufficiently skilled in dressing meat, he went to
Sparta, where he gained much practice, especially among the younger
citizens. He was soon after expelled the city by the magistrates, who
observed that the aid of Mythecus was unnecessary, as hunger was the
best seasoning.
=My̆tilēne.= _See:_ Mitylene.
=Myus= (_Myuntis_), a town of Ionia on the confines of Caria, founded
by a Grecian colony. It is one of the 12 capital cities of Ionia,
situate at the distance of about 30 stadia from the mouth of the
Mæander. Artaxerxes king of Persia gave it to Themistocles to
maintain him in meat. Magnesia was to support him in bread, and
Lampsacus in wine. _Cornelius Nepos_, _Themistocles_.――_Strabo_,
bk. 14.――_Herodotus_, bk. 4, ch. 142.――_Diodorus_, bk. 11.
N
=Nabazanes=, an officer of Darius III., at the battle of Issus. He
conspired with Bessus to murder his royal master, either to obtain
the favour of Alexander or to seize the kingdom. He was pardoned by
Alexander. _Curtius_, bk. 3, &c.――_Diodorus_, bk. 17.
=Năbăthæa=, a country of Arabia, of which the capital was called Petra.
The word is often applied to any of the eastern countries of the
world by the poets, and seems to be derived from Nabath the son of
Ishmael. _Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 1, li. 61; bk. 5, li. 163.
――_Strabo_, bk. 16.――_Lucan_, bk. 4, li. 63.――_Juvenal_, satire 11,
li. 126.――_Seneca_, _Hercules Œtaeus_, li. 160, &c.
=Nābis=, a celebrated tyrant of Lacedæmon, who in all acts of cruelty
and oppression surpassed a Phalaris or a Dionysius. His house was
filled with flatterers and with spies, who were continually employed
in watching the words and the actions of his subjects. When he had
exercised every art in plundering the citizens of Sparta, he made a
statue, which in resemblance was like his wife, and was clothed in
the most magnificent apparel, and whenever any one refused to deliver
up his riches, the tyrant led him to the statue, which immediately,
by means of secret springs, seized him in its arms, and tormented him
in the most excruciating manner with bearded points and prickles, hid
under the clothes. To render his tyranny more popular, Nabis made an
alliance with Flaminius the Roman general, and pursued with the most
inveterate enmity the war which he had undertaken against the Achæans.
He besieged Gythium and defeated Philopœmen in a naval battle. His
triumph was short; the general of the Achæans soon repaired his
losses, and Nabis was defeated in an engagement, and treacherously
murdered, as he attempted to save his life by flight, B.C. 192, after
a usurpation of 14 years. _Polybius_, bk. 13.――_Justin_, bks. 30 & 31.
――_Plutarch_, _Philopœmen_.――_Pausanias_, bk. 7, ch. 8.――_Florus_,
bk. 2, ch. 7.――――A priest of Jupiter Ammon, killed in the second
Punic war, as he fought against the Romans. _Silius Italicus_, bk. 15,
li. 672.
=Nabonassar=, a king of Babylon, after the division of the Assyrian
monarchy. From him the _Nabonassarean epoch_ received its name,
agreeing with the year of the world 3237, or 746 B.C.
=Nacri campi=, a place of Gallia Togata near Mutina. _Livy_, bk. 41,
ch. 18.
=Nadagara.= _See:_ ♦Nagara.
♦ reference not found
=Nænia=, the goddess of funerals at Rome, whose temple was without the
gates of the city. The songs which were sung at funerals were also
called _nænia_. They were generally filled with the praises of the
deceased, but sometimes they were so unmeaning and improper, that the
word became proverbial to signify nonsense. _Varro_, ♦_Antiquitates
rerum humanarum et divinarum_.――_Plautus_, _Asinaria_. ♠act 4,
scene 1, li. 63.
♦ ‘de Vitâ P. R.’ replaced with ‘Antiquitates rerum humanarum
et divinarum’
♠ ‘41’ replaced with ‘4’
=Cnæus Nævius=, a Latin poet in the first Punic war. He was originally
in the Roman armies, but afterwards he applied himself to study and
wrote comedies, besides a poetical account of the first Punic war,
in which he had served. His satirical disposition displeased the
consul Metellus, who drove him from Rome. He passed the rest of his
life in Utica, where he died, about 203 years before the christian
era. Some fragments of his poetry are extant. _Cicero_, _Tusculanæ
Disputationes_, bk. 1, ch. 1; _de Senectute_.――_Horace_, bk. 2, ltr.
1, li. 53.――――A tribune of the people at Rome, who accused Scipio
Africanus of extortion.――――An augur in the reign of Tarquin. To
convince the king and the Romans of his power as an augur, he cut
a flint with a razor, and turned the ridicule of the populace into
admiration. Tarquin rewarded his merit by erecting to him a statue
in the _comitium_, which was still in being in the age of Augustus.
The razor and flint were buried near it under an altar, and it was
usual among the Romans to make witnesses in civil causes swear near
it. This miraculous event of cutting a flint with a razor, though
believed by some writers, is treated as fabulous and improbable by
Cicero, who himself had been an augur. _Dionysius of Halicarnassus._
――_Livy_, bk. 1, ch. 36.――_Cicero_, _de Divinatione_, bk. 1, ch. 17;
_De Natura Deorum_, bk. 2, ch. 3; bk. 3, ch. 6.
=Nævŏlus=, an infamous pimp in Domitian’s reign. _Juvenal_, satire 9,
li. 1.
=Naharvali=, a people of Germany. _Tacitus_, _Germania_, ch. 43.
=Nāiădes=, or =Naides=, certain inferior deities who presided over
rivers, springs, wells, and fountains. The Naiades generally
inhabited the country, and resorted to the woods or meadows near the
stream over which they presided, whence the name (ναιειν, _to flow_).
They are represented as young and beautiful virgins, often leaning
upon an urn, from which flows a stream of water. Ægle was the
fairest of the Naiades, according to Virgil. They were held in great
veneration among the ancients, and often sacrifices of goats and
lambs were offered to them, with libations of wine, honey, and oil.
Sometimes they received only offerings of milk, fruit, and flowers.
_See:_ Nymphæ. _Virgil_, _Eclogues_.――_Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 14,
li. 328.――_Homer_, _Odyssey_, bk. 13.
=Nais=, one of the Oceanides, mother of Chiron or Glaucus by Magnes.
_Apollodorus_, bk. 1, ch. 9.――――A nymph, mother by Bucolion of Ægesus
and Pedasus. _Homer_, _Iliad_, bk. 6.――――A nymph in an island of
the Red sea, who by her incantations turned to fishes all those
who approached her residence, after she had admitted them to her
embraces. She was herself changed into a fish by Apollo. _Ovid_,
_Metamorphoses_, bk. 4, li. 49, &c.――――The word is used for water
by _Tibullus_, bk. 3, poem 7.
=Naissus=, or =Nessus=, now _Nissa_, a town of Mœsia, the birthplace of
Constantine, ascribed by some to Illyricum or Thrace.
=Nantuates=, a people of Gaul near the Alps. _Cæsar_, _Gallic War_,
bk. 3, ch. 1.
=Napææ=, certain divinities among the ancients, who presided over the
hills and woods of the country. Some suppose that they were tutelary
deities of the fountains, and the Naiades of the sea. Their name is
derived from ναπη, _a grove_. _Virgil_, _Georgics_, bk. 4, li. 535.
=Napata=, a town of Æthiopia.
=Naphĭlus=, a river of Peloponnesus, falling into the Alpheus.
_Pausanias_, bk. 1.
=Nar=, now _Nera_, a river of Umbria, whose waters, famous for
their sulphureous properties, pass through the lake Velinus, and
issuing from thence with great rapidity, fall into the Tiber.
_Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 14, li. 330.――_Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 7,
li. 517.――_Cicero_, _Letters to Atticus_, bk. 4, ltr. 15.――_Tacitus_,
_Annals_, bk. 1, ch. 79; bk. 3, ch. 9.
=Narbo Martius=, now _Narbonne_, a town of Gaul, founded by the consul
Marcius, A.U.C. 636. It became the capital of a large province of
Gaul, which obtained the name of Gallia _Narbonensis_. _Paterculus_,
bk. 1, ch. 15; bk. 2, ch. 8.――_Pliny_, bk. 3.
=Narbonensis Gallia=, one of the four great divisions of ancient Gaul,
was bounded by the Alps, the Pyrenean mountains, Aquitania, Belgicum,
and the Mediterranean, and contained the modern provinces of
Languedoc, Provence, Dauphiné, and Savoy.
=Narcæus=, a son of Bacchus and Physcoa. _Pausanias_, bk. 5, ch. 15.
=Narcea=, a surname of Minerva in Elis, from her temple there, erected
by Narcæus.
=Narcissus=, a beautiful youth, son of Cephisus and the nymph Liriope,
born at Thespis in Bœotia. He saw his image reflected in a fountain,
and became enamoured of it, thinking it to be the nymph of the place.
His fruitless attempts to approach this beautiful object so provoked
him, that he grew desperate and killed himself. His blood was changed
into a flower, which still bears his name. The nymphs raised a
funeral pile to burn his body, according to Ovid, but they found
nothing but a beautiful flower. Pausanias says that Narcissus had a
sister as beautiful as himself, of whom he became deeply enamoured.
He often hunted in the woods in her company, but his pleasure was
soon interrupted by her death; and still to keep afresh her memory,
he frequented the groves, where he had often attended her, or
reposed himself on the brim of a fountain, where the sight of his
own reflected image still awakened tender sentiments. _Pausanias_,
bk. 9, ch. 21.――_Hyginus_, fable 271.――_Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 3,
li. 346, &c.――_Philostratus_, bk. 1.――――A freedman and secretary of
Claudius, who abused his trust and the infirmities of his imperial
master, and plundered the citizens of Rome to enrich himself.
Messalina, the emperor’s wife, endeavoured to remove him, but
Narcissus sacrificed her to his avarice and resentment. Agrippina,
who succeeded in the place of Messalina, was more successful.
Narcissus was banished by her intrigues, and compelled to kill
himself, A.D. 54. The emperor greatly regretted his loss, as he had
found him subservient to his most criminal and extravagant pleasures.
_Tacitus._――_Suetonius._――――A favourite of the emperor Nero, put to
death by Galba.――――A wretch who strangled the emperor Commodus.