Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/1141

Rh MUSICANUS. support that view. The poem on the loves of Hero and Leander is by a very much later author. No- thing remains of the poems attributed to Mnsaeus but the few quotations in Pausanias, Plato, Clemens Alexaiidrinus, Philostratus, and Aristotle. (Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol, i. p. 119.) 2. An ancient Theban lyric poet, the son of Thamyra ai-d Philammon, who, according to Suidas (s. v.), lived, considerably before the Trojan war. 3. An epic poet, a native of Ephesus, who lived probably about the middle of the second century B. c. According to Suidas, he wrote a poem en- titled nepffTjts, in ten books, dedicated to Eumenes and Attalus. What Suidas means by the expres- sion, Twv ei'y Toi)s nepyafir^vovs Koi avrds kvkKous, it is not easy to say. 4. A grammarian, the author of the celebrated poem on the loves of Hero and Leander. Nothing is known of his personal history ; and the elder Scaliger even supposed that the poem was the work of the ancient Athenian bard. But in many of the manuscripts the author is distinctly called Musaeus the grammarian ; and it is now agreed on all hands that the poem is quite a late production. According to Schrader and other critics the author did not live earlier than the fifth century of our era. The general style is quite different from the simplicity of the older poets, and several individual expressions betray the lateness of its origin. The poem was first discovered in the thirteenth century. Numerous editions of it have been published. The first, with a Latin version by Marcus Musurus, without any indication of the date or place. Of the rest may be mentioned those by Kromayer, Halae Magd. 1721 ; by Schrader, 1742 ; by Hein- rich, 1793; by Passow, Leipzig, 1810; and by Schaefer, Leipzig 1825. There are several trans- lations of the poem. In English, by Marlowe, Stapylton, Stirling, &c. ; in German, by Stollberg, Passow, &c.; in French, by Marot, &c.; in Italian, by Bernardo Tasso, Bettoni, &c. [C. P. M.J MUSA'GETES. [Musae.] MUSCA, a surname of the Sempronia gens. 1. T. Sempronius Musca, one of the five com- missioners appointed in B.C. 168 to settle the dis- putes between the Pisani and Lunenses. (Liv. xlv. 13.) 2, 3. A. Sempronius and M. Sempronius, his brother, bore undoubtedly the surname of Musca, since it is related that when they embraced a certain Vargula in their canvass, the latter called out Puer abige Muscas. (Cic. de Oral. ii. 60.) 4. Sempronius Musca, detected C. Gallius in the act of adultery with his wife, and scourged him to death. (Val. Max. vi. 1. § 13.) 5. Musca, mentioned by Cicero in B.C. 45, appears to have been a freedman or steward of Atticus. (Cic. ad Ait. xii. 40.) MUSICA'NUS, the ruler of a kingdom on the banks of the Indus, the capital of which was pro- bably near Bukkur. On the sudden approach of Alexander (b. c. 325) Musicanus, who had hitherto sent no tokens of submission to Alexander, being dismayed by his sudden appearance, hastened to meet him with humble acknowledgements of his fault and rich presents. He was graciously re- ceived by Alexander, who allowed him to retain his kingdom, with the fertility and opulence of which he was greatly struck. But when Alex- ander marched westwards to attack Porticanus MUTILUS. 1127 Musicanus was induced by the Brahmins to revolt. Alexander sent a force against him tinder Python, who overran the country, captured the towns, which he either destroyed or garrisoned, and took Musi- canus prisoner, together with his principal Brah- mins. Alexander ordered them to be crucified. It has been conjectured that the name Musicanus means the khan or rajah of Moosh ; but Thirlwall ( History of Greece^ vol. vii. p. 48) doubts whether the title khan was in use in the time of Alexander on the lower Indus. Curtius gives the name Mu- sicani to the people. (Arrian, vi. 15 — 17 ; Curt, ix. 8.) [C. P. M.] MUSONIA'NUS, a native of Antioch, an officer under the emperor Constantino the Great and his successors. His first name was Strategus. He was an eloquent speaker both in Greek and Latin, and first acquired the favour of Constantino by acquiring foe him an acquaintance with the doctrines of the Manichaeans and other sectaries. Pleased with his diligence, the emperor gave him the name of Musonianus, and promoted his ad- vancement in office. (Amra. Marc. xv. 13.) He is well spoken of in other respects, but is charged with avarice and the love of being flattered. He supported the Arian party, and under the Arian emperor, Constantius, attained the rank of prae- fectus praetorio Orientis, which he held from A. D. 354 to 358. He was employed to punish a sedi- tion at Antioch, in a. d. 354. According to Li- banius, he obeyed the emperor's orders, to act with moderation ; but Ammianus (Z. c.) charges him with cruelty to some poor people who were inno- cent, and letting the guilty rich escape, on their paying him heavy sumf for his own advantage. In 355, he was too much employed in pillaging the country to defend it against the Persians, with whom he sought in vain to conclude a peace. Nothing more is known of him. (Liban. Epist. pas- sim ; Amm. Marc. U. cc. and xvi. 9, xvii. 5 ; Tille- mont, IJist. des Empereurs^ vol. iv.) [J. C. M.] MUSO'NIUS RUFUS. [Rufus.] MUSSI'DIA GENS, only occurs on coins, with the cognomen Longus. A specimen of these coins is given under Longus. MUSTE'LA, was a person with whom Cicero, in B. c. 46, had some negotiations respecting the purchase of the Villa Clodiana {ad Ait. xii. 5, 44, 47, xiii. 3) [W. B. D.] MUSTE'LA, TAMPSIUS, a native of Anagnia in the Hernican territory, was one of M. Antony's retainers in B. c. 44 — 3. (Cic. Phil. ii. 4, v. 6> viii. 9, xii. 6, xiii. 2, ad Ait. xvi. 11.) [W.B.D.] MU'STIUS, was a Roman eques and revenue- fanner, about the time of the praetorship of Verres, B. c. 75, who defrauded M. Junius, a ward and stepson of Mustius. He was once defended by Cicero, but the speech is lost and its occasion un- known. (Cic. in Verr. i. 51, 52 ; Pseud- Ascon. in Act. II. Vcrrian. p. 195, ed. Orelli.) [W.B.D.] MU'STIUS, an architect, and a friend of the younger Plinv. {Ep. ix. 39.) [P. S.] MUTIA'NUS. [Mucianus.] MU'TILUS, C. PA'PIUS, one of the principal Samnite generals in the Marsic or Social war, K. c. 90 — 89. At the head of the greater part of the Samnite forces, he invaded Campania, took several of its towns, and obliged almost all the rest to sur- render to him ; but having made an attack upon the camp of the consul. Sex. Caesar, he was repulsed with a loss of 6000 men, b. c. 90. In the following 4c 4.