Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/1082

Rh 1068 METOCIIITA. and Metion hiinself a son of Eupalamus and grand- son of Erechtheus (comp. Plat. lon^ p. 533, a. ; Paua. vii. 4. § 6). Apollodorus (iii. 15, § 8) on the other hand, calls Eupalamus a son of Metion and father of Daedalus. According to a Sicyonian legend, Sicyon also was a son of Metion and a grandson of Erechtheus. (Paus. ii. 6. § 3 ; comp. Schol. ad Soph. Oed. Col. 468, who calls the wife of Metion Iphinoe.) [L. S.] METIS (M^Tts). 1. The personification of pmdence, is described as a daugliter of Oceanus and Thetys. At the instigation of Zeus, she gave to Cronos a vomitive, whereupon he brought back his children whom he had devoured (ApoUod. i. 2, § 1, &c. ; Hes. TJieog. 471). She was the first love and wife of Zeus, from whom she had at first en- deavoured to withdraw by metamorphosing herself in various ways. She prophesied to him that she would give birth first to a girl and afterwards to a boy, to whom the rule of the world was destined by fiite. For this reason Zeus devoured her, when she was pregnant with Athena, and afterwards he himself gave birth to a daughter, who issued from his head (ApoUod. i. 3. § 6 ; Hes. Theng. 886). Plato {Sympos. p. 203, b.) speaks of Poms as a son of Metis, and according to Hesiod, Zeus de- voured Metis on the advice of Uranus and Ge, who also revealed to him the destiny of his son. (Gomp. Welcker, Die Aeschyl TriL p. 278.) 2. A male being, a mystic personification of the power of generation among the so-called Orphics, similar to Phanes and Ericapaeus. (Orph. Fragm. vi. 19, viii. 2.) [L. S.] ME'TIUS. [Mettius.] METOCHITA, GEO'RGIUS (Tedpyios 6 MexoxiTTjs), magnus diacoiius in Constantinople, lived in the thirteenth century. He was an inti- mate friend and staunch adherent of the emperor Andronicus the Elder, and one of those few Greek divines who advocated the re-union of the Greek and Latin churches. For both these reasons he was deposed and exiled, about 1283, by the em- peror Andronicus the Younger. He died in exile, but the year of his death is not known. Some say that he was the father of the following Theodore Metochita, with whom several modern writers have confounded him. He wrote different works of no small importance for the history of the time : his style is abominable, but full of expressive strength and barbarous vigour. 1. 'Avri^p-nais, &c., or Refutatio trium Capitum Alaocimi Flanwiis ; 2. Avrl^pTja-is, &c., or, Responsio ad ea quae Afanuel Nepos Cretensis pMicavit, both published together, Greek and Latin, by Leo Allatius, in the second volume of Graecia Orthodux. 3. Fragmeiituin ea: Oratio7ie de Uniona Ecclesiarum^ published by the SJime in his diatribe Contra Holtinger. ; 4. Fragm. ejt Oratione de Dissidio Ecclesiar., ibid. ; 5. Trac- tatus de Processione Spiriius Saudi Fatrumque Mc in re Sententiis^ divided into five parts or books ; a fragment of the fourth was published by Com- befis in the second volume of Nova Diblioth. Fair. and a fragment of the fifth by Leo Allatius in De Furgatorio and Contra Hoitinger.., who gives some information on the whole work in his De Consensu utriusque FJcclesiae, p. 771 ; 6. Oratio Antirrhetica contra GeorgiumCi/prium Patriarcham. 7. Oratio de Sacris Mysteriis ; 8. Explicatio Regu- larmn S. Nicepfiori, &c., and other minor pro- ductions, most of which were known to Leo Allatius. (Fabric. Bibl. O'raec. vol. x. p. 412, METON. not.; Cave, FHsl. Lit. ad ann. 1276, p. 645, cd, Geneva.) [W. PJ ^ METOCHITA, THEODO'RUS (@e6dwpjs 6 MeToxir-ns), the intimate fiiend and adhe- rent of the unfortunate emperor Andronicus the Elder (a. d. 1282—1328), was a man of extra- ordinary learning and great literary activity, al- though much of his time was taken up by the duties he had to discharge as Magnus Logotheta Ecclesiae Constant., and the various commissions with which he was entrusted by his imperial friend. No sooner had Andronicus the Younger usurped the throne, in ] 328, than he deposed Metochita and sent him into exile. The learned priest, how- ever, was soon recalled, but, disgusted with the world, he retired into a convent in Constantinople, where he died in 1332, It is said that he was the son of the preceding Georgius Metochita', with whom he has often been confounded. Nicephorus Gregoras, the writer, delivered the funeral oration at the interment of Th. Metochita, and wrote an epitaph which is given in Fabricius. Many details referring to the life of this distinguished divine are contained in the works of Nicephorus Gregoras and John Cantacuzenus, Metochita wrote a great number of works on various subjects ; the princi- pal are : — 1. napd(ppa(Tis, being commentaries on various works of Aristotle's, especially Fhysica, De Aniina, De Coelo, De Ortu et Inleritu^ De Memoria et Reminiscentia^ De Somno et VigUia, and others. The Greek text has never been published. A Latin version by Gentianus Hervetus appeared at Basel, 1559, 4to ; reprinted, Ravenna, 1614, 4to ; 2. XpoviK6v, a Roman history from Julius Caesar to Constantine the Great ; the Greek text, wuth a Latin version, by John Meursius, Ley den, 1618. 4to. Regarding the doubts on Metochita's author- ship of this work, compare Fabricius ; 3. 'Tiro/j.i'Tjfia- ri<T{xo Kol ^riixfiucreis yvuixiKal, various commen- taries, essays, sentences, &,c., published under the title Specimina Operum Tlveod. MelocJUtae, by Janus Bloch, Copenhagen, 1790, 8vo. The fol- lowing are still unpublished: — 4. Tiep Newrepi- K^s KaK07)6elai, De mala recentiorum Consuetudine, treats on the corruption of the church, especially of the anti-Christian changes introduced into the rites. Arcadius made a Latin version of this work, which, however, seems not to have been published. 5. Aoyoi, eight books on ecclesiastical history, two of which are extant in MS. 6. Capita Fhilosophica et Historica Miscellanea CXX.., of which Fabricius gives the titles. Their great variety allows us to infer the extensive learning and the speculative genius of Metochita. 7. Micliaelis Falaeologi et Irenes Augustae EpitapJiium. 8. Astronomiiii. Metochita was one of the best astronomers of hi? time. 9. Commentarii in Ftolemaei Magnavi Stm- taccin^ said to be extant in MS. in Spain. (Fabric. Bihl. Graec. vol, x, p. 412, &c. ; Cave, Ilist. Lit. ad ann. 1276, and Wharton, in Append, to Cave, ad ann. 1301 ; Thomas Magister, npoacpovevTiKuf (ad Metochitam) and Epistula (to the same), vx. Graec. et Lat., together with other letters of tiie same Thomas, Laurentius Normann, Ups;ila, 1693, 4to.) [W. P.] METON (MeTOJi/), a citizen of Tarentum, who, when the decree was proposed for calling in the assistance of Pyrrhus, came into the assembly of the people, in tlie garb of a reveller, and accom- jjanied by a llute-playcr, as if just come from a banquet. When the people laughed at him, and