Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/1059

Rh MENYLLUS. Dareius. Mentor with his troops was taken into the Persian service. When Dareius Ochus marched upon Egypt, one division of his Greek forces was placed under the command of Mentor and the eunuch Bagoas. When this division came before Bubastus, Mentor contrived that a report should reach the garrison, which consisted partly of Greeks, that all who surrendered would be par- doned. The Greek commanders on both sides were eager to be the first to make and to receive the submission ; and Mentor contrived that Bagoas in entering the city should be taken prisoner by the Greeks. Having then himself received the surrender of the city, and procured the release of Bagoas, he secured the favour of Dareius and the gratitude of Bagoas, and was rewarded with a satrapy including all the western coast of Asia Minor. His influence with Dareius also enabled him to procure the pardon of his brother Memnon and of Artabazus. While engaged in the govern- ment of his satrapy he treacherously secured the person of Hermeias, tyrant of Atarneus, the friend of Aristotle [Hermkias; Aristotelss], and hav- ing forged letters in his name, obtained possession of his fortresses. He sent Hermeias to Dareius, who put him to death. He died in possession of his satrapy, and was succeeded by his brother Memnon. His wife's name was Barsine. His three daughters fell into the hands of Parmenion at Damascus. One of them was subsequently married to Near- chus. (Diod. xvi. 42, &c. 49 — 52 ; Arrian, vii. 4. §9;Curt.iii. 13. §14.) [C. P. M.] MENTOR, the most celebrated silver-chaser among the Greeks, must have flourished before B. c. 356, for Pliny states that his choicest works perished in the conflagration of the temple of Artemis at Ephesus {H.N. xxxv. 12. s. 55). Others of them were burnt in the Capitol, and none were extant in Pliny's time {I. c. ; comp. vii. 38. s. 39). His works were vases and cups, the latter chiefly of the kind called Thericha (see Ernesti, Clav. Cic, and Orelli, Onom. TulUan. s. v.). The statement of Pliny respecting the utter loss of his works must be understood of the large vases, and not of the smaller cups, many of which existed, and were most highly prized (Cic. Verr. iv. 18 ; Martial, iii. 41, iv. 39, viii. 50, ix. 59, xiv. 91 ; Propert. i. 14. 2 ; Juv. viii. 104). Some of them were, however, certainly spurious. (Plin. H. N. xxxiii. 11. s. 53.) Lucian {Lexiph. p. 332, ed. Wetstein) uses the phrase fj-ei/ropovpyrj Trorripia to describe elaborately- wrought silver cups. IP-S.] MENYLLUS {MewWos). 1. A Macedonian, who was appointed by Antipater to command the garrison which he established at Munychia after the Lamian war, B, c. 322. He is said by Plu- tarch to have been a just and good man, and to have sought as far as possible to prevent the garrisim from molesting the Athenians. He was on friendly terms with Phocion, upon whom he in vain sought to force valuable presents. On the death of Antipater, B.C. 319, he was replaced by Nicanor. (Diod. xviii. 18 ; Plut. Phoc. 28—31.) 2. Of Alabanda, was sent ambassador to Rome, in B.C. 162, by Ptolemy VI. Philometor, to plead his cause against his younger brother Physcon. The senate, however, espoused the cause of the latter, and the next year Menyllus was sent again to endeavour to excuse Ptolemy for his non-com- pliance with the orders of the senate. But they refused to listen to him, and ordered the embassy MERCATOR. 1045 to quit Rome within five days. (Polyb. xxxi. 18, xxxii. 1.) During his stay at Rome on the former occasion, Menyllus took an active part, in conjunc- tion with the historian Polybius, in effecting the escape of Demetrius, the young king of Syria, who was detained at Rome as a hostage. (Id. xxxi. 20 —22.) [Demetrius.] [E. H. B.] MENYTES or INDEX. [Heracles.] MEPHITIS, a Roman divinity who had a grove and temple in the Esquiliae, on a spot which it was thought fatal to enter. (Plin. H. N. ii. 93. s. 95 ; Varro, De L. L. v. 49.) Who this Me- phitis was is very obscure, though it is probable that she was invoked against the influence of the mephitic exhalations of the earth in the grove of Albunea. She was perhaps one of the Italian sibyls. Servius {ad Aen. vii. 84) mentions that Mephitis as a male divinity was connected with Leucothea in the same manner as Adonis with Aphrodite, and that others identified her with Juno. (Comp. Tac. Ann. iii. 33.) [L. S.] MERCA'TOR, ISIODO'RUS, also called Isi- dorus Peccator, a Spanish bishop, about A. D. 830, respecting whom see Fabric. Bill. Grace, vol. x. p. 497, vol. xii. p. 159. MERCA'TOR, MA'RIUS, distinguished among ecclesiastical writers as a most zealous antagonist of the Pelagians and the Nestorians, appears to have commenced his literary career during the pontificate of Zosimus, A. D. 218, at Rome, where he drew up a discourse against the opinions of Coelestius, which he transmitted to Africa and received in reply an epistle from St. Augustin, still extant {Ep. cxciii. ed. Bened.). Having repaired to Constan- tinople about ten years afterwards, for the purpose of counteracting the designs of the banished Ju- lianus [Julian us Eclanensis], he presented hia Commonitorium to Theodosius. He then became deeply involved in the controversy regarding the Incarnation, and in this found active occupation for the remainder of his life, which must have extended beyond the middle of the fifth century, since we find mention made in his writings of the Eutychians, whose name does not appear among the catalogue of heretics, until after the council of Chalcedon, held in 451. Mercator seems undoubtedly to have been a layman, but we are absolutely ignorant of every circumstance connected with his origin and personal history. Hence, in the absence of all as- certained facts, an ample field is thrown open for that unprofitable species of labour which seeks to create substance out of shadow ; and here the exertions of Gamier and Gabriel Gerberon are especially conspicuous, but it would be a mere waste of time and space to recount their visions. The works of Mercator refer exclusively to the Pelagian and Nestorian heresies, and consist for the most part, in so far as the latter is concerned, of passages extracted and translated from the chief Greek authorities upon both sides, and arranged in such a manner as to enable the orthodox to com- prehend the doctrines advanced by their opponents, and the arguments by which they were confuted. 1. Commonitorium super nomine Coelestii, com- posed originally in Greek, presented in 429 to the emperor Theodosius, and translated into Latin some years afterwards. The object of this piece was to procure the expulsion of Julianus and Coe- lestius from Constantinople, by giving a history of the rise and progress of their errors, and by ex- posing the fatal tendency of their doctrines. We 3x 3