Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/1118

Rh 1104 MNASALCAS. with such demonstrations of favour as excited the jealousy of the elder Mithridatos, who, in con- sequence, recalled him ; and after keeping him some time in captivity, ultimately put him to death. (App. Mithr 64.) [E. H. B.] MITHRIDA'TIS (MtflptSaTts), a daughter of Mithridates the Great, who had been at one time betrothed to Ptolemy, king of Egypt ; but the mar- riage never took place, and she shared the fortunes of her fiither to the last. She and her sister Nyssa were present with Mithridates just before his death, and voluntarily took poison, that they might share his fate. (Appian, Mithr. 1 1 1.) [E. H. B.] MITHRPNES. [MiTHRENES.] MITHROBARZA'NES (Mi0po§apCa«/7js). ]. Father-in-law of Datames, with whom he joined in his revolt from the Persian king [Datames] ; but afterwards despairing of his cause, went over to Artabazus, the Persian general, with all the cavalry under his command. Datames, however, on learning his desertion, followed him so closely that he attacked the enemy at the very moment that Mithrobarzanes had joined them. The Per- sians in consequence distrusted their new confe- derate, and refused to receive them, so that Mithro- barzanes and his followers found themselves hemmed in between two armies, and were quickly cut to pieces. (Diod. xv. 91 ; Corn. Nep. Datam. 6 ; comp. Polyaen-. vii. 21. § 7.) 2. General of the Cappadocian forces, which formed part of the Persian army at the passage of the Granicus : he was killed in the battle (Arrian, Anal. i. 16. § 5 ; Diod. xvii. 21). His name is written in many of the MSS. both of Diodorus and Arrian, Mithrobuzanes, but analogy is certainly in favour of the other form. 3. King or ruler of the district of Sophene, in th* possession of which he was established by Ariarathes V., king of Cappadocia, notwithstanding the opposition of Artaxias, king of Armenia, who in vain 'endeavoured to induce Ariarathes to put the young prince to death, and divide his dominions between them. (Diod. xxxi. Exc. Vales, p. 584.) 4. A general of Tigranes I., king of Armenia, who was the first of the king's friends and courtiers that ventured to apprise him of the near approach of Lucullus. Hereupon he was despatched by that monarch with a force of 3000 horse and a numerous body of infantry, with orders to crush the Roman army, and bring the general away prisoner. Mithro- barzanes, though he does not seem to have shared in this foolish confidence, advanced to meet Lucullus, but was encountered by the advanced guard of the Romans under Sextilius, and cut to pieces, with the greater part of his troops. (Plut. Lucvll. 25 ; Appian, Mithr. 84.) [E. H. B.] MITROBATES (MirpogaTTjs), a Persian, go- vernor of Dascyleium, is said by Herodotus to have taunted Oroetes, satrap of Sardis, with his allowing Samos to continue free from the Persian yoke. During the disturbed period which fol- lowed the death of Cambyses and the usurpation of the Magi (b. c. 521), Oroetes put Mitrobates and his son Cranaspes to death. (Herod, iii. 120, 126, 127.) [E. E.] MIXOPA'RTHENOS (Mj^oTrcJ^eevos), i. e. half maiden, a surname of the Erinnyes or Furies. (Lycophr. 669 ; comp. Herod, iv. 9.) [L. S.] MNASALCAS (Mi/ao-aAKas), an epigrammatic poet, a native of a village or township in the ter- ritory of Sicyon called Plataeae (Strab. ix. p. 412). MNASEAS. Eighteen of his epigrams are given in Bnmck's Anal. i. p. 190. The time when he flourished is uncertain. Reiske {Not. p. 245, &c.) is some- what disposed to consider him a contemporary of Alexander the Great, Schneider (Anal. p. 6) places him a century later. (Fabric. BibL Graec. vol. iv. p. 483; Athen. iv. p. 163.) [C. P. M.] MNA'SEAS (Mi/ao-eas). 1. A Phocian, who, on the death of Phayllus, b. c. 353, was appointed guardian to the young Phalaecus, the son of Ono- marchus, and the successor of Phayllus in the supreme command of the Phocians in the Sacred War. Mnaseas was soon after slain in a night- battle with the Thebans. He was perhaps the same person whose private quarrel with one Euthy- crates about an heiress had, according to Aristotle, given occasion to the war. (Diod. xvi. 38 ; comp. Paus. X. 2 ; Arist. Polit. v. 4, ed. Bekk.) 2. An Argive, mentioned by Demosthenes {de Cor. p. 324) as one of those who betrayed their country to Philip. Poly bins (xvii. 14) blames Demosthenes for what he calls his reckless and sweeping accusation against so many distinguished men. (Comp. Dem. de Cor. p. 245, de Clw.rs. p. 105 ; Diod. xvi. 38,69.) [E. E.] MNA'SEAS (Mrarr^as), literary. 1. Of Pa- TARA, in Lycia, the most celebrated literary person of this name. He is sometimes called o narapews, and at other times d narpevs : the former would make him a native of Patara in Lycia ; the latter, of Patrae in Achaia. Clinton calls him {F. H. vol. iii. p. 534) Mnaseas of Patrae ; but it appears more probable that narpeuy is a corruption of Xiarap^vs than the contrary ; and we know that Asia Minor produced many literary persons from the time that literature flourished at Alexandria. From a passage in Suidas (s. v. 'EpaToadepT}s Vossius, Clinton, and others have supposed that Mnaseas was a disciple of Aristarchus ; but the words may also mean that he was a pupil of Era- tosthenes ; and that this is their real meaning, Preller has shown, from another source, in the ess»y referred to below. (Comp. Epimerism. Horn. p. 2*^77, 29 ; Welcker, EpiscJie Cyclus, p. 459.) Mnaseas belonged to the period when the school of Callimachus and Eratosthenes was prosecuting literary and grammatical studies ; but when like- wise a very large number were devoting themselves to a description of lands and places, with an ac- count of their local traditions, monuments, and antiquities. Such were Polemon of llion, Nean- thes of Cyzicus, Philostephanus of Cyrene, and man)' others, who were contemporary with Mna- seas, and who were called by the general name of Periegetae (nepiTjyTjrai). To these Mnaseas be- longed, and was one of the worst of his class. It is true that he was diligent and learned, and that he travelled in Europe, Africa, and Asia, for the purpose of collecting materials for his work ; but he was singularly destitute both of taste and judg- ment, and belonged to that class of Alexandrine compilers who placed more value upon the quantity of their materials than their quality or arrange- ment, and who recorded more diligently all extra- ordinary and fabulous tales in history and nature than events and occurrences of real interest and importance. He was also a follower of the ratio- nalistic school of Evemei-us, and resolved many of the ancient legends into ordinary natural occur- rences, quite in accordance with the iirinciples of the school. [Evemerus.]