Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 16.djvu/113

Rh M E T M E T 103 METAPONTUM, or METAPONTIUM (the first form is that generally found in Latin writers, but Thucydides, Strabo, and other Greek authors employ the latter form), was a city of Magna Grrccia situated on the Gulf of Tarentum, near the mouth of the river Bradanus, and distant about 24 miles from Tarentum and 14 from Heraclea. It was founded by an Achaean colony about 700 B.C., though various traditions existed which assigned it an earlier origin. But according to the only historical account it was a joint foundation from Sybaris and Crotona, to which, as usual in similar cases, was joined a body of fresh settlers from the mother country, under the command of a leader named Leucippus. The object of its establishment was without doubt to strengthen the Achaean element in Magna Gnecia, as opposed to the increasing power of the Tarentines, but at the same time to occupy a territory which was remarkable for its fertility. It was to this cause that Metapontum owed the great prosperity to which it attained at an early period, and appears to have continued to enjoy for several centuries, though it never assumed a prominent place in history. It was, however, one of the cities that played a conspicuous part in the political troubles arising from the introduction of the Pythagorean principles into the cities of Magna Grsecia, and it was there that the philosopher himself ended his days. His tomb was still shown there in the time of Cicero. At the time of the Athenian expedition to Sicily (415 B.C.) Metapontum appears to have been an opulent and powerful city, whose alliance was courted by the Athenians ; but they contented themselves with a very trifling support. In 332 B.C., at the time of the expedition of Alexander, king of Epirus, into Italy, it was one of the first cities to espouse his cause, and enter into an alliance with him ; and they appear to have in like manner lent an active support to Pyrrhus at a later period. Down to this time, therefore, Metapontum seems to have retained its position as one of the principal cities of Magna Groecia, and there is no evidence of its having suffered materially from the establishment of the Lucanians in its immediate neighbourhood. Nor have we any account of the precise period at which it passed under the dominion of Rome, or the conditions under which it became subject to the great republic. But it was the Second Punic War which gave the fatal blow to its prosperity. After the battle of Cannna in 216 B.C. it was among the first cities in the south of Italy to declare in favour of Hannibal, and after the fall of Tarentum in 212 B.C. it not only received a Carthaginian garrison, but became for some years the headquarters of Hannibal. Hence, when the defeat of Hasdrubal at the Metaurus (207 B.C.) compelled him to abandon this part of Italy, and withdraw into the fastnesses of Bruttium, the whole mass of the inhabitants of Metapontum abandoned their city, and followed him in his retreat. From this time Metapontum sunk into a poor and incon siderable town ; though it was still existing as such in the days of Cicero, it soon fell into complete decay, and Pausanias tells us that in his time nothing remained of it but a theatre and the circuit of the walls. All remains of these have since disappeared, but the site is still marked by the ruins of a temple, which occupy a slight elevation on the right bank of the river Bradanus, about 2 miles from its mouth. The surrounding plain, so celebrated in ancient times for its fertility, is now desolated by malaria, and almost uninhabited ; and the remains of the city itself, between the site of the temple and the sea, are in great part buried in the alluvial deposits of the neighbouring rivers. Some excavations were carried on upon the spot by the Due de Luynes in 1828, and the results of his researches were published by him in a special work (Jletaponte, fol., Paris, 1833). METASTASIO (1698-1782). Pietro Trapassi, the Italian poet who is better known by his assumed name of Metastasio, was born in Rome, January 6, 1698. His father, Felice Trapassi, a native of Assisi, came to Rome and took service in what was termed the Corsican regiment of the papal forces. He subsequently married a Bolognese woman, called Francesca Galasti, and established himself in business as a sort of grocer in the Via dei Cappellari. Two sons and two daughters were the fruit of this marriage. The eldest son, Leopoldo, must be mentioned, since he played a part of some importance in the poet s life. Pietro, while quite a child, showed an extraordinary talent for improvisation, and often held a crowd attentive in the streets while he recited impromptu verses on a given subject. It so happened that, while he was thus engaged one evening in the year 1709, two men of high distinction in Roman society passed by and stopped to listen to his declamation. These were Gian Vincenzo Gravina, famous for legal and literary erudition, famous no less for his dictatorship of the Arcadian Academy, and Lorenzini, a critic of gome note. Gravina was at once attracted by the boy s poetical talent and by his charm of person ; for little Pietro was gifted with agreeable manners and considerable beauty. The great man interested himself in the genius he had accident ally discovered, made Pietro his protege&quot;, and in the course of a few weeks adopted him. Felice Trapassi was glad enough to give his son the chance of a good education and introduction into the world under auspices so favourable. Gravina, following a fashion for which we may find pre cedents so illustrious as that of Melanchthon, Hellenized the boy s name Trapassi into Metastasio ; and this name remained with him for life. Gravina intended his adopted son to be a jurist like himself. He therefore made the boy learn Latin and begin the study of law. At the same time he cultivated his literary gifts, and displayed the youthful prodigy both at his own house and in the Roman coteries. Metastasio soon found himself competing with the most celebrated improvisatori of his time in Italy. Days spent in severe studies, evenings devoted to the task of improvis ing eighty stanzas at a single session, were fast ruining Pietro s health and overstraining his poetic faculty. At this juncture Gravina had to journey into Calabria on business. He took Metastasio with him, exhibited him in the literary circles of Naples, and then placed him under the care of his kinsman Gregorio Caroprese at a little place called Scale&quot;a. In country air and the quiet of the southern sea-shore Metastasio s health revived. It was decreed by the excellent Gravina that he should never improvise a line again. His great facility should be reserved for nobler efforts, when, having completed his education, he might enter into competition with poets who had be queathed masterpieces to the world. Metastasio responded with the docility of a pliant nature to his patron s wishes. At the age of twelve, while attend ing to classical and legal studies, he translated the Iliad into octave stanzas; and two years later he composed a tragedy in the manner of Seneca upon a subject chosen from Trissino s Italia Liberata Gravina s favourite epic. It was called Giustino, Gravina had it printed in 1713 ; but the play is lifeless ; and forty-two years afterwards we find Metastasio writing to his publisher, Calsabigi, that he would willingly suppress it. Caroprese died in 1714, leaving Gravina his heir ; and in 1718 Gravina also died. Metastasio inherited from the good old man a property, consisting of house, plate, furniture, and money, which amounted to 15,000 scudi, or about 4000. At a meeting of the Arcadian Academy, amid the tears and plaudits of that learned audience, he recited an elegy on the patron who had been to him so true a foster-father, and then settled down, not it seems without real sorrow for his loss, to enjoy what was no inconsiderable