Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/1049

 MENAS. legions, with which he took Sardinia, and gained over two legions that were stationed there. Sar- dinia was soon after recaptured by Helenus, a favourite freedman of Octavian's ; but Menas, in the same year (b. c. 40), was again entrusted by Sextus with a fleet to carry on operations against Octavian and Antony, who had just been recon- ciled to one another ; and in this expedition he ravaged the Etrurian coast, and once more gained possession of Sardinia ; but, wishing to secure a refuge in the protection of Octavian should circum- stances make it desirable, he sent back to him Helenus and several other prisoners without ran- som. In B. c. 39 he tried in vain to dissuade his master from concluding a peace with Octavian and Antony ; and, at an entertainment given to them by Sextus on board his ship at Misenum, Menas suggested to him to cut the cables of the vessel, and, running it out to sea, despatch both his rivals. The treacherous proposal, however, was rejected by Pompeius. (Dion Cass, xlviii. 30. 36 — 38 ; Appian, B. C. v. 56, QQ, 70—73 ; Plut. Ant. 32; Veil. Paterc. ii. 73, 77.) Meanwhile Pompey's suspicions of the fidelity of Menas had been ex- cited by his dismissal of Helenus and his commu- nication with Octavian, and had been further fomented by the representations of certain persons who were envious of his power in Sardinia. He therefore sent for him early in B, c. 38, on pretence of requiring an account of the provisions and money which he had had to administer. But Menas put all the messengers to death, and cove- nanted with Octavian to surrender to him the island, together with the whole force, military and naval, under his command. Octavian gladly em- braced his offer, and not only refused to give him up, according to Dion, on the application of Sextus, but treated him with great distinction, advanced him to the equestrian order, and, investing him with the authority of legate under Calvisius Sabinus, placed him in command of the ships which he had himself brought over. In this capacity he was engaged in the naval campaign towards the end of B. c. 38, which was on the whole disastrous to Octavian, but in which Menas did good service, and, through his skilful seamanship, saved the ships entrusted to him from destruction by a storm which shattered a great portion of the fleet. (Dion Cass, xlviii. 45—48 ; Appian, B. C. v. 77—90.) Just before the re-commencement of hostilities be- tween Sextus and Octavian, in b. c. 36, Menas again played the deserter, and returned to his old master's service, not only because the last campaign may have given him reason to think that the stronger side, but also because he was indignant at k having merely a subordinate command assigned to him. In the operations which ensued, he gained some advantages over the enemies' ships ; and having raised an impression that, formidable as an opponent, he might be equally useful as an ally, he again revolted to Octavian, being especially offended at not having been reinstated in his former com- mand by Pompeius, under whose suspicion he felt uneasy. Octavian received him gladly, but con- tinued to regard him with distrust. In B. c. 35 he accompanied his patron ou his expedition to the north-eastern coast of the Adriatic, and was slain in the Pannonian campaign at the siege of Siscia. (Dion Cass, xlviii. 54, xlix. 1, 37 ; Appian, B. C. V. 96, 100, 101.) According to the old scholiasts, the person so MENECLES. vehemently attacked by Horace in liis fourth epode was no other than the subject of the present article. This statement has been called in question by many modern commentators ; but their arguments, dfawn exclusively from internal evidence, are far from satisfactory. The discussion of the point is, in this place, impossible, connected as it is with the vexata quaestio of the chronology of the poems of Horace. For the literature of the subject, see above. Vol. II. p. 522, and comp. Clasidcal Museum, vol. ii. pp. 207—209. 217—221. [E. E.] MENDEIS. [SiTHON.] MENDES (Me^Sijs), an Egyptian divinity, wor- shipped in the town of Mendes. He is said to have resembled the Arcadian Pan. (Herod, ii. 46 ; Strab. xvii. pp. 802, 812.) [L. S.] MENE (Mtjj/tj), a female divinity presiding over the months. (Hom. Hymn. xii. 1 ; Apollon. Rhod. iii. 533, iv. hb ; August. De Civ. Dei, vii. 2.) [L. S.] MENECLEIDAS (Mej/e/cAeiSas), a Theban orator, was one of those who joined Pelopidas in. delivering Thebes from Sparta and the oligarchical government in B. c. 379. After this, however, finding himself eclipsed by Pelopidas and Epami- nondas, he strove in every way to bring them into discredit with their countrymen, and, in particular, he took part in the prosecution against them for having retained their command beyond the legal time in the campaign of B. c. 369. Being further exasperated by their acquittal, he continued his rancorous attacks on them ; and, as he was a powerful speaker, he so far succeeded against Epa- minondas as to exclude him from the office of Boeotarch. Against Pelopidas his efforts were of no avail, and he therefore endeavoured, in the true spirit of envy, to throw his merits into the shade, by advancing and exaggerating those of Charon. The latter had been successful in a slight skirmish of cavalry just before the great battle of Leuctra (B.C. 371), and Menecleidas brought forward a decree for commemorating the exploit by a picture, to be dedicated in one of the temples, and inscribed with Charon's name. For this he was impeached by Pelopidas, on the ground that the honour of all victories belonged, not to any individual, but to the state. He was found guilty and fined ; and his inability to pay the penalty led him afterwards to enter into revolutionary designs against his country. (Plut. Pelop. 25. See Vol. II. p. 23, a.) [E. E.] MENECLES (Mecc/cA^s). 1. Of Barce in Cyrene, is mentioned by Athenaeus (iv. p. 184) simply as an historian, and is perhaps the same as the one whose work in another passage (ix. p. 390) he mentions under the title of avvayoDyi^. There also existed an historical work on Athens (Trcpi 'A0Tjj'a)t'), the authorship of which was doubtful, even in antiquity, some attributing it to Menecles, and others to Callistratus (Harpocrat. s. vv. Kepa- IJ.eiK6s, 4KaT6fnri5ov ; Etym. Magn. s. v. Aloeis ; Harpocrat., Phot., Suid. s. r. 'Epjuat). But it is scarcely probable that this historian of Athens should be the same as Menecles of Barce. It is more likely that the Barcaean is identical with the author of a work on the history of Libya, who is mentioned in an anonymous treatise, De Mulierilms Bello Claris., § 1 0, which is printed in the Bibliothek der Alt. Lit. uwl Kunst., vi. p. 21. It is highly probable that the Menecles of Barce was also the author of a work from which a fragment concerning Battus of Cyrene, is still extant. (Schol. ad Find,