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MEN  in 1557. The best edition is that of Orelli, which was printed at Leipsic in 1816.  MEMNON, a mythical hero first mentioned in the Odyssey, said to be the son of Tithonus and Eos. The legends concerning him are various, but his origin is generally traced to Egypt or Ethiopia. He assisted Priam in the Trojan war, with his own hand slew Antilochus, and was himself slain by Achilles. It is now, supposed that this Memnon of the Greeks is the same as the Egyptian Phamenoph or Amenophis mentioned by Manetho in the eighteenth dynasty. There was a celebrated colossal statue near Thebes ascribed by the Egyptians to this king, which has been described by Strabo and Pausanias, and is said to have given forth sounds resembling the snapping of a lute string.  MEMNON, a celebrated Persian general intrusted by Darius Ochus with the supreme command in western Asia when Alexander the Great invaded his dominions. At the first battle fought on the banks of the Granicus the Macedonians were completely victorious, but Memnon had previously advised that the Persian army should retire. When Alexander had reduced Miletus and Halicarnassus Memnon escaped to Cos, and soon after made himself master of Chios and the whole of Lesbos, except Mytilene. He died before that place in 333.  MENA,, a Spanish poet, born in 1411; died in 1456. He was secretary and historiographer to John II. of Castile; but it does not appear that any part of the chronicle of that monarch now extant is by his hand. His poems seem to have been received with favour at court, since they are found in the collections made for the king's amusement. A poem on the "Seven Deadly Sins" is a dull allegory; the "Coronation" is a poem in honour of the marquis of Santillana. The "Labyrinth," his principal work, was begun early, but left unfinished. It is in style and conception an imitation of Dante; and after an allegorical introduction, diverges into a series of mythological and historical portraits, including the king, Alvaro de Luna, the marquis of Villana, and the Count de Niebla. His minor poems, which are of small value, are to be found in the old Cancioneros Generales, and in the old editions of his works, especially that of 1534.—F. M. W.  MENAGE,, a celebrated French author and critic, born at Angers on the 15th August, 1613; died at Paris on the 23rd July, 1692. He was at first educated for the legal profession, but afterwards entered the church so far as to make himself eligible for what was termed a simple benefice. For some time he was attached to the household of Paul de Gondi, afterwards Cardinal de Retz; but his irritable temper exhausted the patience of his patron, and Menage sold his patrimonial estate for an annuity of three thousand livres. He then retired to a house in the cloister of Notre Dame, devoting himself to literature, and assembling once a week a society of learned men. His memory is said to have been prodigious; so much so, that he did not keep notes of the books he read, but by once writing a passage could ever afterwards retain it. Bayle called him the Varro of his age. He left an etymological dictionary of the French language; a dissertation on the origin of the Italian language, with which he was well acquainted; several volumes of poems; some critical essays on the French language; and a number of miscellaneous writings.—P. E. D.  MENANDER, the most celebrated poet of the Greek new comedy, was born at Athens, 342 ., and died 271. Scarcely anything is known of his life; but he seems to have been of luxurious and epicurean habits. His writings, of which unhappily we have nothing but disjointed fragments, were held in the highest estimation by antiquity. They were continually copied by the Roman dramatists, and four of the extant plays of Plautus, with the same number of those of Terence, are imitations of Menander. From these, and from his numerous fragments, we are enabled to form some idea of the excellence of his comedies. The charming simplicity and easy grace of his style was accompanied by a profound knowledge of mankind; and the moist perfect expression of tender or pensive sentiment was united to the most elegant pleasantry, and the most subtle discrimination of character. Some good remarks on Menander will be found in Schlegel's Dramatic Literature, and in Müller's Literature of Greece. "If ever the best Tatlers and Spectators," says Macaulay, "were rivalled in their own kind, we are inclined to guess it must have been by the lost comedies of Menander."—G.  MENANDER, so called from his being one of the emperor's body guard, flourished about the close of the sixth century, and was the son of Euphratas of Byzantium. He wrote a history of the Eastern empire from 558 to 583, part of which has been preserved. The best edition is that of Bonn, 1830.  MENASSEH. See. <section end="413H" /> <section begin="413I" />MENCIUS is the Latinized form of Meng-tsen, the name of a celebrated Chinese sage, the author of one of the "Four Books" which form the scriptures of the Chinese. He is supposed to have lived in the first half of the fourth century before Christ, and his tomb, according to M. Pauthier, is still shown in the town of his birth, Tseon, in the province of Chan-Tung. Losing in early childhood his father, he is described as having been carefully brought up by his mother, who is venerated in China as a model of maternal virtue. Beginning as a disciple of Tseu-sse, a descendant and follower of Confucius, Mencius became himself a sage with disciples of his own, and travelled from court to court of the sovereigns of the kingdoms into which China was then divided, arguing and teaching. He composed the last of the four classical books of the Chinese, and it is known by his name. Though full of the common-places which make up Chinese philosophy, the work of Mencius is to European readers one of the most interesting of the four, from the vivacity of its style and the dialogue-form in which it is mainly composed. The original goodness of man is one of the favourite doctrines of Mencius, and his mode of teaching may almost be termed Socratic. M. Stanislas Jullien executed a Latin translation of Mencius for the Asiatic Society of France, Paris, 1824, and there is an English version of it in Mr. Collie's translation of the "Four Books," Malacca, 1828. A more accessible version is the French one of M. Pauthier, among the Livres sacrés de l'Orient in the Panthéon Litteraire.—F. E. <section end="413I" /> <section begin="413J" />MENCKE,, eldest son of Johann Burckhardt, was born at Leipsic on the 3rd August, 1708, and proved himself a worthy successor of his father and grandfather, both in their chair in the university and in the continuation of the Acta. Among the rest of his works, his "Life of Angelus Politianus," 1736; and his "Miscellanea Lipsiensia, 10 vols., are the most important. He died in 1754, in his native town.—K. E. <section end="413J" /> <section begin="413K" />MENCKE,, son of Otto, and a celebrated scholar, was born at Leipsic on the 27th March, 1675. After studying theology, he was nominated to the chair of history in his native town, and was afterwards appointed historiographer to Frederick Augustus, king of Poland and elector of Saxony. After the death of his father he continued his Acta Eruditorum. He deserved still better of learning by his "Scriptores Rerum Germanicarum, præcipue Saxonicarum," 1728-30, 3 vols. He also distinguished himself as a poet, and was the founder and director of the first German academy, the so-called Poetic Society of Leipsic, as a member of which he styled himself Philander von der Linde. The greatest sensation, however, he produced by his "Orationes Duæ de Charlataneria Eruditorum," which were translated into almost all European languages. He died in 1732.—(See Life by Treitschke.)—K. E. <section end="413K" /> <section begin="413L" />MENCKE,, a German litterateur, was born at Oldenburg on the 22nd March, 1644, of a respectable family. In 1668 he obtained the chair of ethics in the university of Leipsic, which he honourably filled till his death on 29th January, 1707. His fame rests on his "Acta Eruditorum Lipsiensium," the first literary journal of Germany, which during its long existence commanded universal esteem and popularity. The rest of his writings (amongst which we must mention an edition of Camden's Annales) have been consigned to oblivion.—K. E. <section end="413L" /> <section begin="413Mnop" />MENDANA DE NEYRA,, a Spanish navigator, was born in 1541. In 1568 he set sail from Callao on a voyage of discovery, in the course of which he celebrated, on an island that he named Isabella, the first mass ever performed in the islands of the Pacific. In January, 1569, he landed on the coast of Mexico, from which he returned to Lima. Many disputes have taken place regarding the identity of the places discovered by Mendana de Neyra; they are now admitted to be what we call New Georgia. He commenced a second expedition by sailing from Paita in 1595. He failed, however, owing to the imperfect state of the science of navigation at that period, to find the islands which he had formerly visited. He discovered, however, a new one, to which he gave the name of Santa Cruz, and he endeavoured to establish a colony there. The cruel and intemperate conduct of his crew towards the natives, frustrated all his schemes. His men grew mutinous, his heart gave way, and he died 18th October, 1595.—W. J. P. <section end="413Mnop" />