Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/1041

Rh MEMMIUS. and, when curule aedile, in b. c. 60, seduced the wife of M. Lncullus, whence Cicero, combining this intrigue with Memmius's previous hostility to L. Lucullus, calls him a Paris, who insulted not only Menelaus (M. Lucullus), but Agamemnon also (L. Lucullus). (Cic. ad Atl. i. 18. § 3 ; comp, Val. Max. vi. 1. § 13.) Memmius was praetor in B. c. 58. (Cic. ad Quint. Fr. i. 2, 5, 15.) He belonged at that time to the Senatorian party, since he impeached P. Vatinius, consul in b. c. 47 (Cic. in Vatin. 14) ; opposed P. Clodius (id. ad Jit. ii. 12) ; and was vehement in his invectives against Julius Caesar (Suet. Caes. 23, 49, 73 ; Schol. Bob. in Cic. pro Sest. p. 297, in Cic. Vatijiian. p. 317, 323, Orelli) ; and attempted to bring in a bill to rescind the acts of his consulate. Before, however, Memmius himself competed for the consulship, b. c. 54, he had been reconciled to Caesar, who supported him with all his interest. (Cic. ad Att. iv. 15, 17 ; Suet. Caes. 73.) But Memmius soon again offended Caesar by revealing a certain coalition with his opponents at the comi- tia. (Cic. ad Quint. Fr. ii. 15, ad Att. iv. 16, 18.) Memmius was impeached for ambitus, and, re- ceiving no aid from Caesar, withdrew from Rome to Mytilene, where he was living in the year of Cicero's proconsulate. (Cic. ad Quint. Fr. iii. 2, 8, ad Fam. xiii. 19-, ad Att. v. 11, vi. 1.) Mem- mius married Fausta, a daughter of the dictator Sulla, whom he divorced after having by her at least one son C. Memmius [No. 9]. (Ascon. in Cic. pro M. Aeinil. Scaur, p. 29, Orelli ; Cic. pro Sull. 1 9.) He was eminent both in literature and in eloquence, although in the latter his indo- lence, his fastidious taste, and exclusive preference of Greek to Roman models rendered him less effec- tive in the forum. (Cic. Brut. 70.) Lucretius de- dicated his poem, De Rerum Natura, to this Mem- mius, and Cicero addressed three letters to him {ad Fam. xiii. 1 — 3). 9. C. Memmius, son of the preceding by Fausta, daughter of Sulla the dictator, was tribune of the plebs in B. c 54. He prosecuted A. Gabinius, consul in b. c. 58, for malversation in his province of Syria (Cic. ad Quint. Fr. iii, 1. 5, 15, 2. 1, 3. 2, pro Rabir. Post. 3 ; Val. Max. viii. 1. § 3), and Domitius Calvinus for ambitus at his consular co- mitia in B. c. 54 (Cic. ad Quint. Fr. iii. 2. § 3, 3. 2). Memmius addressed the judices in behalf of the defendant at the trial of M. Aemilius Scaurus in the same year (Ascon. in Cic. Scaurian. p. 29, Orelli). Memmius was step-son of T. Annius Milo who married his mother after her divorce by C. Memmius (No. 7). (Ascon. I. c. ; Cic. pro Sull. 19.) Memmius was consul suffectus in b. c. 34, when he exhibited games in honour of one of the mythic ancestors of the Julian house, Venus Genetrix. (Dion Cass. xlix. 42.) 10. P. Memmius, was cited a witness for the defendant at the trial of A. Caecina, B. c. 69. (Cic. pro Caec. 10.) [Caecina, No. 1.] 11. P. Memmius Reg ul us, was supplementary consul in a. d. 31 (Fasti ; Dion Cass. Iviii. 9), and afterwards praefect of Macedonia and Achaia, in which office he received orders from Caligula to remove to Rome the statue of the Pheidian Jupiter from Olympia. (Joseph. Anliq. xix. 1 ; Pausan. ix. 27 ; comp. Dion Cass. 1. 6.) Memmius was the husband of LoUia Paulina, and was compelled by Caligula to divorce her. (Tac. Ann. xii. 23 ; Suet. Col. 25 ; Dion Cass. lix. 12 ; Euseb. in MEMNON. 1027 Chron. ; comp. Tac. Ann. xii. 1.) Memmius died in A. D. 63. (Tac. Ann. xiv. 47.) 12. C. Memmius Regulus, son, probably, of the preceding, was consul in A. D. 63. (Fasti ; Tac. Ann. xv. 23 ; Gruter, Inscr. p. 8.) 13. L. Memmius Pollio, was supplementary consul in b. c. 49. Memmius was a creature of Agrippina's, the wife of Claudius, and was em- ployed by her to promote the marriage of her son Nero with the emperor's daughter Octavia. (Tac. A7in. xii. 9.) 14. C. Memmius, C. f., is only known from coins of the republican period, a specimen of which is annexed. The obverse bears the head of Ceres, with c. memmi, c. f. : the reverse a trophy sup- ported by a captive, with c. memmivs imperator. This coin is of beautiful workmanship. [ W. B. D. ] COIN OF C. memmius. MEMNON {Me/jLvccv), a son of Titbonus and Eos, and brother of Emathion. In the Odyssey and Hesiod he is described as the handsome son of Eos, who assisted Priam with his Ethiopians against the Greeks. He slew Antilochus, the son of Nestor, at Troy. (Hes. JTieog. 984, &c. ; Hom. Od. iv. 188, xi. 522 ; Apollod. iii. 12. § 4.) Some writers called his mother a Cissian woman (Kiaala), from the Persian province of Cissia. (Strab. p. 728 ; Herod. V. 49, 52.) As Eos is sometimes identical with Hemera, Memnon's mother is also called Hemera. [Eos.] Homer makes only passing allusions to Memnon, and he is essentially a post- Homeric hero. According to these later traditions, he was a prince of the Ethiopians, and accordingly black (Ov. Amor. i. 8. 4, Epist. ex Pont. iii. 3. 9Q ; Paus. x. 31. § 2) ; he came to the assistance of his uncle Priam, for Tithonus and Priam were step-brothers, being both sons of Laomedon by different mothers. (Tzetz. aci Zyc. 18.) Respect- ing hia expedition to Troy there are different legends. According to some Memnon the Ethio- pian first went to Egypt, thence to Susa, and thence to Troy. (Paus. i. 42. § 2.) At Susa, which had been founded by Tithonus, Memnon built the acropolis which was called after him the Memnonium. (Herod, v. 53, vii. 151 ; Strab. p. 728 ; Paus. iv. 31. § 5.) According to some Tithonus was the governor of a Persian province, and the favourite of Teutamus ; and Memnon ob- tained the command of a large host of Ethiopians and Susans to succour Priam. (Diod. ii. 22, iv. 75 ; Paus. x. 31. $ 2.) A third tradition states that Tithonus sent his son to Priam, because Priam had made him a present of a golden vine. (Serv. ad Aen. i. 493.) Dictys Cretensis (iv. 4) makes Memnon lead an army of Ethiopians and Indians from the heights of Mount Caucasus to Troy. In the fight against the Greeks he was slain by Achilles. The principal points connected with his exploits at Troy are, his victory over Antilochus, his contest with Achilles, and lastly, his death and the removal of his body by his mother. With regard to the first, we are told that Antilochus, the 3 u 2