See MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1774.
MINYI, The.
"The race [among the Greeks] which … first issues forth with
a history of its own from the dark background of the Pelasgian
people is that of the Minyi. The cycle of their heroes
includes Iason and Euneus, his son, who trades with Phœnicians
and with Greeks. … The myths of the Argo were developed in
the greatest completeness on the Pagasæan gulf, in the seats
of the Minyi; and they are the first with whom a perceptible
movement of the Pelasgean tribes beyond the sea—in other
words, a Greek history in Europe—begins. The Minyi spread
both by land and sea. They migrated southwards into the
fertile fields of Bœotia, and settled on the southern side of
the Copæic valley by the sea. … After leaving the low
southern coast they founded a new city at the western
extremity of the Bœotian valley. There a long mountain ridge
juts out from the direction of Parnassus, and round its
farthest projection flows in a semicircle the Cephissus. At
the lower edge of the height lies the village of Skripu.
Ascending from its huts, one passes over primitive lines of
wall to the peak of the mountain, only approachable by a rocky
staircase of a hundred steps, and forming the summit of a
castle. This is the second city of the Minyi in Bœotia, called
Orchomenus: like the first, the most ancient walled royal seat
which can be proved to have existed in Hellas, occupying a
proud and commanding position over the valley by the sea. Only
a little above the dirty huts of clay rises out of the depths
of the soil the mighty block of marble, more than twenty feet
high, which covered the entrance of a round building. The
ancients called it the treasury of Minyas, in the vaults of
which the ancient kings were believed to have hoarded the
superfluity of their treasures of gold and silver, and in
these remains endeavoured to recall to themselves the glory of
Orchomenus sung by Homer."
_E. Curtius,
History of Greece,
book 1, chapter 3 (volume 1)._
See, also, BŒOTIA;
and GREECE: THE MIGRATIONS.
MIR, The Russian.
"The 'mir' is a commune, whose bond is unity of autonomy and
of possession of land. Sometimes the mir is a single village.
In this case the economic administration adapts itself exactly
to the civil. Again, it may happen that a large village is
divided into many rural communes. Then each commune has its
special economic administration, whilst the civil and police
administration is common to all. Sometimes, lastly, a number
of villages only have one mir. Thus the size of the mir may
vary from 20 or 30 to some thousands of 'dvors.' … The
'dvor,' or court, is the economic unit: it contains one or
several houses, and one or several married couples lodge in
it. The 'dvor' has only one hedge and one gate in common for
its inmates. … With the Great Russians the mir regulates
even the ground that the houses stand on; the mir has the
right to shift about the 'dvors.' …
{2188}
Besides land, the communes have property of another kind:
fish-lakes, communal mills, a communal herd for the
improvement of oxen and horses; finally, storehouses, intended
for the distribution to the peasants of seeds for their fields
or food for their families. The enjoyment of all these various
things must be distributed among the members of the commune,
must be distributed regularly, equally, equitably. Thus, a
fair distribution today will not be fair five or six years
hence, because in some families the number of members will
have increased, in others diminished. A new distribution,
therefore, will be necessary to make the shares equal. For a
long time this equalization can be brought about by partial
sharings-up, by exchange of lots of ground between the private
persons concerned, without upsetting everybody by a general
redistribution. … The Russian mir is not an elementary unit.
It is made up of several primordial cells—of small circles
that form in perfect freedom. The mir only asks that the
circles (osmaks) are equal as to labour-power. This condition
fulfilled, I am free to choose my companions in accordance
with my friendships or my interests. When the village has any
work to do, any property to distribute, the administration or
the assembly of the commune generally does not concern itself
with individuals, but with the 'osmak' … Each village has an
administration; it is represented by a mayor (selskï
starosta), chosen by the mir. But this administration has to
do only with affairs determined upon in principle by the
communal assembly. The starosta has no right of initiating any
measures of importance. Such questions (partition of the land,
new taxes, leases of communal property, etc.) are only
adjudicated and decided by the assembly of the mir. All the
peasants living in the village come to the assembly, even the
women. If, for example, the wife, by the death of her husband,
is the head of the family, at the assembly she has the right
to vote. … The peasants meet very frequently. … The
assemblies are very lively, … courageous, independent."
_L. Tikhomirov,
Russia, Political and Social,
book 3, chapter 2, with foot-note,
chapter 1 (volume 1)._
ALSO IN:
_D. M. Wallace,
Russia,
volume 1, chapter 8._
_W. T. Stead,
The Truth about Russia,
book 4, chapter 2._
_A. Leroy-Beaulieu,
The Empire of the Tsars,
part 1, book 8._
MIRABEAU, and the French Revolution.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1789 (MAY). to 1790-1791.
MIRACULOUS VICTORY, The.
See THUNDERING LEGION.
MIRAFLORES, Battle of (1881).
See CHILE: A. D. 1833-1884.
MIRANDA, Revolutionary undertakings of.
See LOUISIANA: A. D. 1785-1800;
and COLOMBIAN STATES: A. D. 1810-1819.
MIRANHA, The.
See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: GUCK OR COCO GROUP.
MIRISZLO, Battle of (1600).
See BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES: 14TH-18TH CENTURIES.
MISCHIANZA, The.
See PHILADELPHIA: A. D. 1777-1778.
MISCHNA, The.
Rabbi Jehuda, the Patriarch at Tiberius, was the author (about
A. D. 194) of "a new constitution to the Jewish people. He
embodied in the celebrated Mischna, or Code of Traditional
Law, all the authorized interpretations of the Mosaic Law, the
traditions, the decisions of the learned, and the precedents
of the courts or schools. … The sources from which the
Mischna was derived may give a fair view of the nature of the
Rabbinical authority, and the manner in which it had
superseded the original Mosaic Constitution. The Mischna was
grounded,
1. On the Written Law of Moses.
2. On the Oral Law, received by Moses on Mount Sinai,
and handed down, it was said, by uninterrupted tradition.
3. The decisions or maxims of the Wise Men.
4. Opinions of particular individuals, on which the
schools were divided, and which still remained open.
5. Ancient usages and customs.
The distribution of the Mischna affords a curious
exemplification of the intimate manner in which the religious
and civil duties of the Jews were interwoven, and of the
authority assumed by the Law over every transaction of life.
The Mischna commenced with rules for prayer, thanksgiving,
ablutions; it is impossible to conceive the minuteness or
subtlety of these rules, and the fine distinctions drawn by
the Rabbins. It was a question whether a man who ate figs,
grapes, and pomegranates, was to say one or three graces; …
whether he should sweep the house and then wash his hands, or
wash his hands and then sweep the house. But there are nobler
words."
_H. H. Milman,
History of the Jews,
book 19._
See, also, TALMUD.
MISE OF AMIENS, The.
See OXFORD, PROVISIONS OF.
MISE OF LEWES, The.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1216-1274.
MISENUM, Treaty of.
The arrangement by which Sextus Pompeius was virtually
admitted (B. C. 40) for a time into partnership with the
triumvirate of Antony, Octavius and Lepidus, was so called.
See ROME: B. C. 44-42.