Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/914

Rh 900 MAGNENTIUS. MA'GIUS CAECILIA'NUS. [Caecilianus.] MAGNA MATER. [Rhea.] MAGNE'NTIUS, Roman emperor in the West, A. D. 350 — 353. Flavius Popilius Magnen- Tius, according to the accounts preserved by Victor and Zosimus, belonged to one of those German families who were transported across the Rhine, and established ifi Gaul, about the end of the third century ; according to the statement of Julian, which is not irreconcilable with the former, he was a captive taken in war by Constantius Chlorus, or Constantine. Under the latter he served with reputation in many wars, rose eventually to the dignity of count, and was entrusted by Constans with the command of the famous Jovian and Her- culian battalions who had replaced the ancient praetorian guards when the empire was remodelled by Diocletian. His ambition was probably first roused bj' perceiving the frailty of the tenure under ■which the weak and indolent prince whom he served held power ; and having associated himself with Marcellinus, chancellor of the imperial ex- chequer {comes saerarum largitionitm)^ a plot was deliberately contrived and carefully matured. A great feast was given by Marcellinus at Autun on the 18th of January, a.d. 350, ostensibly to cele- brate the birthday of his son, to which the chief officers of the army and the most distinguished civilians of the court were invited. When the night was far spent, Magnentius, who had quitted the apartment under some pretext, suddenly re- appeared clad in royal robes, and was instantly saluted as Augustus by the conspirators, whose acclamations were caught up and echoed almost unconsciously by the remainder of the guests. The emissaries despatched to murder Constans having succeeded in accomplishing their purpose [Constans, p. 828], the troops no longer hesitated to follow their leaders, the peaceful portion of the population did not resist the example of the sol- diery, and thus the authority of the usurper was almost instantly acknowledged throughout Gaul, and quickly extended over all the Western pro- vinces, except Illyria, where Vetranio, the imperial general [Vetranio], had himself assumed the purple. Intelligence of these events was quickly conveyed to Constantius, who hurried from the frontier of Persia to vindicate the honour of his house, by crushing this double rebellion. The events which followed — the fruitless attempts of the two pretenders to negotiate a peace — the sub- mission of Vetranio at Sardica — the distress of Constantius in Pannonia, which induced him in his turn, but fruitlessly, to make overtures to his oppo- nent — the defeat of Magnentius at the sanguinary battle of Mursa on the Drave, in the autumn of A. D. 351, followed by the loss of Italy, Sicily, Africa, and Spain — his second defeat in the passes of the Cottian Alps — the defection of Gaul — and his death by his own hands about the middle of August, A. D. 353, are fully detailed in other articles. [Constantius, p. 847 ; Decentius, Dksiderius, Nepotianus, Vetranio.] Magnentius was a man of commanding stature and great bodily strength, was well educated, and accomplished, fond of literature, an animated and impressive speaker, a bold soldier, and a skilful general. But, however striking his physical and intellectual advantages, however conspicuous his merits when in a subordinate station, not one spark of virtue relieved the blackness of his career as a MAGNES. sovereign, not one trait of humanity gave indication that the Christianity which he professed had ever touched his heart. The power which he obtained by treachery and murder he maintained by extor- tion and cruelty, rendered, if possible, more odious by a hypocritical assumption of good-natured frankness. (Julian. Oral. i. ii. ; Liban. Orat x. ; Amm. Marc. xiv. 5; Aurel. Vict, de Cues. 41, 42, Epit. 41, 42 ; Eutrop. x. 6, 7 ; Zosim. ii. 41—54 ; Zonar. xiii. 5 — 9 ; Socrat. H. E. ii. 32 ; Sozomen. H. E. iv. 7.) -[W. R.] MAGNES (Mdyj/rjs). 1. A son of Aeolus and Enarete, became the father of Polydectes and Dictvs by a Naiad. (Apollod. i. 7. § 3, 9. § 6, i. 3. § 3. ) The scholiast of Euripides {Phoen. 1760) calls his wife Philodice, and his sons Eurynomus and Eioneus ; but Eustathius {ad Horn. p. 338) calls his wife Meliboea, and mentions one son Alector, and adds that he called the town of Me- liboea, at the foot of mount Pelion, after his wife, and the country of Magnesia after his own name. 2. A son of Argos and Perimele, and father of Hymenaeus ; from him also a portion of Thessaly derived its name Magnesia. (Anton. Lib. 23.) 3. A son of Zeus and Thyia, and brother of Macedon. (Steph. Byz. s. v. MaKedoyia, with the commentators.) [L. S.] MAGNES {Mdyurjs)^ one of the most im- portant of the earlier Athenian comic poets of the old comedy, was a native of the demus of Icaria or Icarius, in Attica. (Suid. s. v.) He is men- tioned by Aristotle {Pott 3) in such a manner as to imply that he was contemporary, or nearly so, with Chionides. An anonymous writer on comedy (p. 28) places him intermediate between Epichar- mus and Cratinus. Suidas states that he was con- temporary, as a young man, with Epicharmus in his old age. His recent death, at an advanced age, is referred to in the Knights of Aristophanes (524), which was written in b. c. 423. From these statements it may be inferred that he flou- rished about 01. 80, B. c. 460, and onwards. The grammarian Diomedes is evidently quite wrong in joining him with Susarion and Myllus (iii. p. 486). The most important testimony respecting Magnes is the passage of the Knights just referred to, in which Aristophanes upbraids the Athenians for their inconstancy towards the poet, who had been extremely popular, but lived to find himself out of fashion (vv. 520 — 525) : — TouTO ixkv dScios airade Mdyvris afia rais noXiOii KaTiovaais, "Os TrXelara x'^p'^v '''^'^ dvTiirdhwv vtKr]s fa-rrjae TpOTra7a' ndaas 5' vjuu ^uvas Uh Koi ^dWwv kuI impv- yi^wv Kol XvSl^MV Koi T^-nvi^wv Koi /SaTrrJ/xej/os fiarpa- X^'^OLS OvK i^-npKeaev, dWa reAeuTwj/ em ynpws, ov yap E|e§A770rj irpe(j§vT7]s wv, on rod ancSnTeiu dire- ei(p9r]. These lines, taken in connexion with the state- ments of ancient writers, and the extant titles of the plays of Magnes, give us a fair notion of his style. The allusions in the third and fourth lines are said by a scholiast to be to his plays entitled Ba^ieiTiSes, "Opvcdes, AvSoi "Vrjves, and Bdrpaxoi. It is evident, therefore, that his plays contained a large portion of the mimetic element, in the exhibi-