Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/1081

Rh METHODIUS. Sj'ria), during the reign of Deciiis (a. d. 249 — 251) and Valeriunus. The addition of the latter name seems to be spurious, since Valerian did not reign with, but after Decius. However the original text of Suidas may be, he was wrong with regard to the time assigned by him to the death of Me- thodius ; for there seems to be no doubt that this divine was a contemporary of Porphyry, and perhaps outlived him ; and if he therefore died during one of the later persecutions of the Chris- tians, as is asserted, it might have been in 303, as Cave thinks, or in 311, according to Fabricius. Methodius was a man of great learning and exem- plary piety, who enjoyed the general esteem of his contemporaries. He wrote several works, the prin- cipal of which are: 1. Uepl 'AvaaTaaeus^ De Resurrcctione^ against Origen, which was divided into two or perhaps three parts. Fragments of it are given by Epiphanius in his Paiiarium ; in Photius, liihliollieca ; a few are contained in the works of Damascenus ; 2. Uepl toov yeverwu, De Creatis, in Photius ; 3. UepX AvTe^ovffiov Koi TtoOfv TO KaKoi, De Libro Arbilrio. Leo Allatius had the complete text with a Latin version, but the work, as contained in the edition of Methodius by Comb^fis, is not quite complete. 4. IlepI rris dyyfo/xiiJ.riTov itapQeveias koI ayveias^ De An- gelica Virginitate. et Casdtate, written in the form of a dialogue. Leo Allatius published this work, Gr. et Lat., in his Diairiba de Meihodiis, at Rome, 1656, 8vo. and dedicated it to Pope Alexander VIL At the same time Petrus Possinus obtained the Greek text of this work from Lucas Plolsten, at Rome ; and having prepared a copy for the press, sent it, together with a Latin version, to Paris, where it was published in the following year, 1657, fol. Possinus, strangely enough, dedi- cated his edition to the same pope, not knowing that Leo Allatius was doing, or had just done, the same thing ; nor was Allatius at all aware of Pos- sinus being engaged in the same work at the same time as he was. It is also contained in Combefis, Auctuar. Diblioth. Patr. Paris, 1672. Photius, quoted below, says that the work had been adul- terated, and contained especially several passages tending to Arianism, of which no trace is to be found in the later editions, so that his MS. was decidedly different from those perused by Allatius and Possinus. 5. Oratio de Simeone et Anna^ seu In Festum Occursus et Purificationis B. Mariae, ed. Petrus Plantinus, Antwerp, 1598. This work is said to be the production of a later Methodius, but Allatius vindicates the authorship of Methodius Patarensis. 6. ASyos irepl Maprvpuv, Sertno de Mariyribm. 7. Eis ret Bata, In Ramos Palmarum, an oration, of which Photius has extracts. The authorship of Methodius is doubtful. 8. Libri adversus Porphyrium^ of which there are fragments in Damascenus. 9. De Pythonissa contra Ori- yencin^ lost. 10. Commentarii in Cantica Cantico- rum, fragments. 11. SeVwj/, lost, &c. This Methodius is said to have written a work, De Revelatione, which, however, is more justly attri- buted to a later Methodius. [No. 3.] The principal works of Methodius, viz., De LU)ro Ar- biti-io, De Resurrectione^ De Angelica Virginitate et Custitate, two homilies, and the extracts given by Photius were published by Combefis, Graece et Latine, cum notis, Paris, 1644, fol., together with the works of Amphilochus and Andreas Cretensis. METION. 1067 p. 96^ so. ed. Geneva ; Fabric. Bibt. Grace, vol. vH. p. 260, &c. This Methodius stands in the index to Fabricius as Methodius Patarensis, which is correct ; but the passage where the reader finds most information on him (vol. vii, p. 260, &c.) is omitted. (Hankius, Script. Byzant.) [W. P.] METHON {M^ewv), a kinsman of Orpheus, from whom the Thracian town of Methone was believed to have derived its name. (Plut. Quaest. Graec.U.) [L. S.] METHYMNA (MTj'euyuw), a daughter of Macar and wife of Lesbus, from whom the town of Me- thymna, in Lesbos, derived its name. (Diod. v. 81 ; Steph. Bvz. s. v.) [L. S.] METHYMNAEUS (Mr/euMvaTos), a surname of Dionysus, derived, according to some, from Methymna, rich in vines. (Hesych. s. v. ; Virg. Georg. ii. 20.) Others derived it from niOv (sweet or wine), as Plutarch (Sympos. iii. 2) and Athe- naeus (viii. p. 363). [L. S.J METIADU'SA (M-nTiddovaa), a daughter of Eupalamus, and wife of king Cecrops, by whom she became the mother of Pandion. (Apollod. iii. 15. §5 ; Paus. i. 5. § 3.) [L. S.] METPLIA GENS, an Alban house, which, on the destruction of Alba Longa, migrated to Rome. (Dionys. iii. 29.) Since the Metilii were imme- diately admitted into the Roman senate, they must at the time of their migration have been of patri- cian rank. In history, however, they occur only as plebeians. Pliny {H.N. xxxv, 17) mentions a lex Metilia de Fullonibus in B. c. 220. [ W. B. D.] METPLIUS. 1. Sp. Metilius, tribune of the plebs in B.C. 416. He brought forward a rogation for fresh assignments of the public land to the commons, but was foiled in his attempt by his colleagues in the tribunate. (Liv. iv. 48.) 2. M. Metilius, tribune of the plebs in B.C. 401, when he impeached two of the consular tribunes of the preceding year, and resisted the levying of the war-tax (tributum) because the patricians usurped the rents of the demesne-land. (Liv. v. 11, 12.) 3. M. Metilius, tribune of the plebs in b. c. 217, brought forward a rogation to deprive Q. Fabius Maximus, then dictator, of the sole control of the legions, and to admit the master of the horse, Q. Minucius Thermus, to an equal share of the command. Metilius was legatus, in B. c. 212, from the senate to the consuls, after some reverses, in the seventh year of the second Punic war. (Liv. xxii. 25, XXV. 22.) 4. T. Metilius Croto, legatus, in b. c. 215, from the praetor Appius Claudius Pulcher to the legions in Sicily. (Liv. xxiii. 31.) [W. B. D.] ME'TIOCHE. [Menippe.] A second person of the name was a Trojan woman, who was painted by Polygnotus in the Lesche at Delphi. (Paus. x. 26. § 1.) [L. S.] ME'TIOCHUS {MT}Tloxos),a.n Athenian orator, a contemporary and friend of Pericles, for whom he often spoke in the assembly at Athens. (Plut. Praeccpt. Pol. 15 ; Bekker, Anecdot. p. 309 ; Schbmann, De Sortit. Jud. p. 40, &c.) [L. S.] ME'TION (Mtjtiwj'), a son of Erechtbeus and Praxithea, and husband of Alcippe. His sons, the Metionidae, expelled their cousin Pandion from his kingdom of Athens, but were themselves after- wards expelled by the sons of Pandion (Apollod. iii. 15. §§ 1, 5, 6, 8 ; Paus. i. 5. § 3). Diodorus (iv. 76) calls Daedalus one of the sons of Metiirn^
 * Phot. Cod, 234, 235, 236, 237 ; Cave, Hist. Lit.