Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/1134

Rh 1120 MUMMIUS. the newly acquired province, and won the con- fidence and esteem of the provincials by his in- tegrity, justice, and equanimity. Mummius was one of the few Roman commanders in the repub- lican aera who did homage to the religion of the Hellenic race. He dedicated a brazen statue of Zeus at Olyrapia, and surrounded the shrine of the god with gilt bucklers of brass. The Corinthian bronze, so celebrated in the later art of the ancient wox'ld, was an accidental discovery, resulting from the burning of the city. The metallic ornaments of its sumptuous temples, basilicae, and private dwellings, formed the rich and solid amalgam which was employed afterwards in the fusile department of sculpture. Mummius triumphed in B.C. 145. His procession formed an epoch in the history of Roman art and cultivation. Trains of waggons laden with the works of the purest ages moved along the Via Sacra to the Capitoline Hill : yet the spectator of the triumph, who had seen them in their original sites and number, must have mourned many an inseparable loss. The fire had destroyed many, the sea had engulfed many ; and the royal con- noisseurs, the princes of Pergamus, had carried oif many for their galleries and temples. Mummius, with a modesty uncommon in conquerors, refused to inscribe the spoils with his name. He viewed them as the property of the state, and he lent them liberally to adorn the triumphs, the buildings, and even the private houses of others, while in his own villa he retained the severe simplicity of early Rome. Mummius was censor in b. c. 142. His colleague was Cornelius Scipio, better known as the younger Africanus ; and no colleagues ever dis- agreed more heartily. The polished Scipio was rigid to excess; the rustic Mummius culpably lenient. On laying down his office, Scipio de- clared that ' he should have discharged his func- tions well, had he been paired with a different colleague, or with none at all." Mummius, how- ever, in private life, was not exempt from the pre- vailing immorality of the times, to Avhich his con- quest of Corinth, by causing a sudden influx of wealth into Rome, contributed. He was a respect- able orator; and, as his government of Achaia showed, possessed administrative talents. His political opinions inclined to the popular side. Though he brought so much wealth into the state- coffers, Mummius died poor, and the common- wealth furnished a marriage portion to his daughter. (Polyb. iii. 32, xl. 7, 8, 1 1 ; Liv. Ep. 52 ; Appian, Pun. 135 ; Dion Cass. 81 ; Flor. ii. 16; Eutrop. iv. 14 ; Val. Max. vi. 4. § 2, vii. 5. § 4 ; Cic. in Verr. i. 21, iii. 4, iv. 2, pro Muraen. 14, de Leg. Ayrar. i. 2, de Orat. ii. 6, Oral. 70, Brut. 22, de Off. ii. 22, ad Att. xiii. 4, 5, 6, 30, 32, 33, Parat/. V. 2, Cornd. ii. fr. 8 ; Pseudo-Ascon. in Cic. Verr. ii. p. 173, Orelli ; Plin. H. N. xxxiv. 2, xxxv. 4, 10 ; Died. xxxi. 5,/r. ; Oros. v. 3; Veil. i. 12, 13, ii. 128 ; Tac. Ann. xiv. 21 ; Pausan. vii. 12] ; Strabo, viii. p. 381 ; A then. iv. 1 ; Zonar. ix. 20 — 23.) 4. Sp. Mummius, brother of the preceding, and his legatus at Corinth in B. c. 146 — 145, was an intimate friend of the younger Scipio Africanus. In political opinions Spurius was opposed to his brother Lucius, and was a high aristocrat. He was one of the opponents of the establishment of rhetorical schools at Rome. Mummius composed ethical and satirical epistles, which were extant in Cicero's age, and were probably in the style which Ml RCIA. Horace afterwards ci Itivated so successfully. (Cic. de Rep. i. 12, iii. 35, v. 9, de Amic. 19, 27, ad Att. xiii. 5, 6, 30.) 5. Sp. Mummius, grandson of the preceding, died shortly before B.C. 46. He had preserved and used to recite to Cicero the epistles of his grandfather, Sp. Mummius [No, 4.] (Cic. ad Alt. xiii. 6.) 6. M. Mummius, was praetor in b. c. 70, and presided at the trial of Verres in that year. (Cic. in Fe7-r. iii. 52.) 7. Mummius, a legatus of M. Crassus in the servile war, b. c. 73, was defeated by the gladiator Spartacus. (Plut. Crass. 10.) 8. Mummius, was a writer of farces, Atellanae, after the year b. c. 90. He is mentioned by Cha- risius (p. 118) and Priscian (x. 9, p. 514, ed. Krehle). In Macrobius (Sat. i. 10) and Gellius (xix. 9) he is called Memmius. [W. B. D.] MU'MMIUS LUPERCUS. [Lupercus.] MUNA'TIA GENS, plebeian, unknown before the second century B. c. Its usual cognomens are Flaccus, Gratus, Plancus, and Rufus. A few Munatii occur without a surname. [W. B. D.] MUNA'TIUS. 1. C. MuNATius, was com- missioner for allotting lands in Liguria and Cisal- pine Gaul, b. c. 173. (Liv. xiii. 4.) 2. P. M UN ATI us, was imprisoned, in what year is uncertain, by the triumviri capitales, for taking a crown from the statue of Marsyas in the forum (Hor. ^:at. i. 6. 120 ; Serv. ad Aen. iv. 58), and placing it on his own head. The tribunes of the plebs refused to take cognizance of his appeal to them. (Plin. H. N. xxi. 6.) 3. MuNATius, a ruined spendthrift, who en- gaged in Catiline's plot. He remained at Rome while his leader organised the insurrection in Etruria. Cicero derides the insignificance and ignobility of Munatius. (Cat. ii. 2.) 4. C. MuNATius, C. p., was in some official situation in a province when Cicero commended to him L. Livinius Trypho, a freedman of L. Pte- gulus (ad Fam. xiii. 60). 5. T. MuNATius, was a kinsman of L. Muna- tius Plancus [Plancus], proconsul in Narbonne, B. c. 44. Munatius received reports from his kins- man of the movements in his province, one of which, addressed to the senate, he previously im- parted to Cicero. Munatius subsequently joined M. Antonius. (Cic. ad Fam. x. 12.) [W. B. D.] MUNA'TIUS, of Tralles, surnamed 6 KpniKos, is mentioned as one of the teachers of Herodes Atticus. (Philostr. Herod. 14, Po/emon, 7.) MUNA'TIUS FLACCUS. [Flaccus.] MUNY'CHIA (Mouwx^a), a surname of Ar- temis, derived from the Attic port-town of Muny- chia, where she had a temple. Her festival was celebrated at Athens in the month of Munychion. (Pans. i. 1. § 4 ; Strab. xiii. p. 639 ; Eustath. ad Horn. p. 331.) [L. S.] MU'RCIA, MU'RTEA, or MU'RTIA, a sur- name of Venus at Rome, where she had a chapel in the circus, with a statue. (Fest. p. 148, ed. Mliller ; Apul. Met. vi. 395 ; TertuU. De Sped. 8 ; Varro, De Ling. Lat. v. 154 ; August. De Civ. Dei, iv. 16 ; Liv. i. 33 ; Serv. ad Aen. viii. 636.) This surname, which is said to be the same as Myrtea (from myrtus, a myrtle), was believed to indicate the fondness of the goddess for the myrtle tree, and in ancient times there is said to have been a myrtle grove in the front of her chapel at