MEG′ÆRA. One of the three Furies.
MEG′ALE. A Greek name of Juno, meaning great.
MELICER′TA, see Palæmon.
MELLO′NA. One of the rural divinities, the goddess of bees.
MELPOM′ENE. One of the Muses, the goddess of tragedy.
MEMORY, see Mnemosyne.
MEN′DES. An Egyptian god like Pan. He was worshipped in the form of a
goat.
MENELA′US. A Spartan king. The elopement of his wife Helen with Paris
was the origin of the siege of Troy. See Helena.
ME′NU. The Hindoo god of law. See Satyavrata.
MERCHANTS, see Mercury.
MER′CURY, the son of Jupiter and Maia, was the messenger of the gods,
and the conductor of the souls of the dead to Hades. He was the
supposed inventor of weights and measures, and presided over orators
and merchants. Mercury was accounted a most cunning thief, for he
stole the bow and quiver of Apollo, the girdle of Venus, the trident
of Neptune, the tools of Vulcan, and the sword of Mars, and he was
therefore called the god of thieves. He is the supposed inventor of
the lyre, which he exchanged with Apollo for the Caduceus. There was
also an Egyptian Mercury, under the name of Thot, who is credited with
having taught the Egyptians geometry and hieroglyphics.
“And there, without the power to fly,
Stands fix’d a tip-toe Mercury.”