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PERSONÆ HORATIANÆ.

137

A notorious prodigal and miserable jester on his own
prodigality and enormous debts. On the first day of the
year he was heard to pray aloud, "O, Jupiter, that I owed
40,000 H. S. !" Some one asked the meaning of this
extraordinary prayer. "I should gain 100 per cent.; I
owe 80,000."

MACIUS.-See "Poets."

MALCHINUS, or MALTINUS.-Sat. 1. ii. 25. See "Life." MAMURRA.-Sat. I. v. 37. A man of low birth, employed by Julius Cæsar, as Præfectus fabrorum, in Gaul. There he accumulated enormous wealth. He was a native of Formia (Mola di Gaeta), which Horace calls his city. Though living in pomp and luxury, he was an object of hatred and contempt, and the butt of poetic satire. Compare two coarse epigrams of Catullus, xxix. and xciv.; in the latter he is called "decoctor Formianus."

MARCUS.-Sat. II. iii. 277. A person unknown, who stabbed his mistress and then killed himself.

MARCELLUS.-Carm. I. xii. 138.

MARSEUS.-Sat. 1. ii. 55. A person unknown; the lover of the Mime Origo.

MAXIMUS, PAULLUS FABIUS.-Carm. Iv. i. 11. Probably the son of P. Fabius Maximus, a favourite of Augustus (Senec. de Controv., 11, 12). Consul, u. c. 743.

MEGILLA.-Carm. 1. xxvii. 11.

MENA, VULTEIUS.- Epist. 1. vii. 55. An imaginary

name of a freed-man.

MENAS.-Epod. IV. SEXT. POMPEIUS MENAS, or MEN-
ODORUS? To him, according to several old MSS., this
Epode is inscribed. Menas was an enterprising and
successful naval commander, but noted for his perfidy.
He commanded part of the fleet of Sex. Pompeius, wasted the

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coast of Etruria, and, after a hard contest, became master of Sardinia. There, as Dion suggests, to leave an opening for the favour of Octavius, he liberated some of his prisoners without ransom, particularly Helenus, a favourite freed-man of Cæsar (Dion. xlviii. 30). At the interview. between Antonius and Cæsar and Sex. Pompeius, Menas advised Pompeius to murder his rivals (Dion. xlviii. 38). Afterwards (Appian. B. c. v. 73), while still Prætor in Sardinia, being suspected of secret intelligence with Cæsar, or falsely accused by those who were jealous of his power (Appian. B. c. v. 71-78), he was summoned to the camp of Pompeius, to give an account of his administration. Instead of obeying this mandate, he put the messengers to death, and surrendered the island to Cæsar. Octavius not only refused to deliver him up to Pompeius, but treated him with great distinction, and, though a freed-man, promoted him to the equestrian rank ("sedilibusque magnus in primis eques Othone contempto sedet"). These lines singularly agree with the rise of Menas. In the naval service of Octavius, Menas defeated and slew Menecrates, his successor and rival in the favour of Sext. Pompeius. He saved part of Cæsar's fleet by his maritime skill, while the rest suffered shipwreck, and kept in check Apollophanes, the rear-admiral of Pompeius. In 718, from some disgust, or from the declared hostility of Antonius, or supposing that the affairs of Pompeius looked more hopeful, he revolted to him again (Dion. xlviii. 54. Appian. B. C. v. 96. And the next year, back again to Cæsar (Appian. B. c. v. 100), who once more, such no doubt was his value as a seaman, received him with undiminished confidence. He was slain afterwards at the siege of Siscia in Pannonia. It is singular how two at least of the allusions in this Epode

tally with the character and adventures of Menas,- his knighthood, and the first lines, which seem to refer to the fleet of Pompeius, manned by robbers and fugitive slaves. Yet, on the other hand, the personal vanity, the parading along the Sacred Way in a trailing toga, and on the Appian in his chariot, to visit his large farm, seem unlike the rude and adventurous life of so bold and skilful a sailor. Nor is the satire consistent with the weight and importance of Menas.-The chronology of the Epode is so utterly uncertain, that it might be adapted without. violence to either period in the life of Menas, when he was at Rome. Vidius Rufus is likewise mentioned by some old Scholiast, as the name of this object of our Poet's invective. To this opinion Orelli inclines, rather, it should seem, from his dissatisfaction with the theory about Menas, than from any positive conviction.

MESSALA, M. VALERIUS CORVINUS.-Carm. III. xxi. 7.

The patron and friend of Tibullus. He was considered almost the last of the great Roman orators. In the civil wars he embraced the party of Brutus and Cassius. After the defeat of Philippi, Messala was the leader who was expected to rally the broken forces of the republican party. But Messala declined the perilous distinction, judging, no doubt prudently, that the cause was desperate. He sided at first with Antonius; but after the treaty of Brundusium, embraced the party of Octavius. He was Consul, v. c. 723. He was employed with distinction in Aquitain, and in the East. Tibullus served in his Aquitanian campaign. He triumphed over the Aquitanians, u. c. 727. The rest of his life was passed in dignified retirement, and in the patronage and enjoyment of letters.

MESSIUS.-Sat. I. v. 52. With the nickname, Cicirrhus, the cock-a buffoon.

METELLA. Sat. II. iii. 259. The wife of Lentulus Spinther, from whose ear the son of Esopus drew the pearl which he melted and drank. (See "Esopi filius.") She was divorced by Spinther, on account of an intrigue with Dolabella (Cic. ad Att. xi. 23; xii. 52; xiii. 7). Mævius, the poet, wrote about her (Schol). See Bayle's Dictionary, Metella."

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METELLUS (Macedonicus).- Con. v. c. 611.

METELLUS, CELER.-Carm. II. i. 1. From his Consulate, U. c. 694, dated the first Triumvirate.

MILONIUS. Sat. 11. i. 24. A buffoon (" See Porphyrion"). MONESES.-Carm. III. vi. 9. Probably the Surena, or General, of the Parthian army; distinguished, first, by the defeat of Crassus, secondly, by that of Marcus Antonius.

MOSCHUS.-Epist. 1. v. 9. A celebrated rhetorician of Pergamus; accused of poisoning. The cause seems to have been a famous one, in which Asinius Pollio, as well as Torquatus, was engaged (Schol.)

MUCIUS, SCEVOLA.—Epist. II. ii. 89. The great orator of that name. Cic. de Orat. i. 48.

MULVIUS.-Sat. II. vii. 36. A parasite of Horace.

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MUNATIUS, PLANCUS.-Carm. I. vii. Throughout the turbulent period of the civil wars, Plancus had been engaged in almost every contest and on every side. In his early youth, he had acquired the name of the Orator," to distinguish him from others of his family. He first appears in active life as one of the legates in the Gallic war of Cæsar (B. c. 54, 55), of whose friendship he boasts. He held commands in Spain and in Africa. At the end of the year B. C. 46 he was, with Lepidus, præfect of the city;

PERSONÆ HORATIANÆ.

141

and the next year celebrated the Apollinarian games. Cæsar entrusted him with the command of Transpadane Gaul; in 42 he was Consul with M. Lepidus. On the death of Cæsar he declared for an amnesty, returned to his province, and took up a position in Cisalpine Gaul, which might enable him to watch the issue of events. He engaged in an active correspondence with Cicero, which fills considerable part of the tenth book of his Letters. Cicero in vain attempted, by artful flatteries, by professions of attachment to his family and to himself from his earliest infancy, and even by insinuations that he was already thought a time-server, to persuade him to throw off his cold neutrality and the superiority to party which he affected, and to declare against Antonius. Plancus, in his turn, protested the most profound respect and love for Cicero, declared that he would be entirely guided by his counsels, but still maintained his prudent reserve. Cicero becomes more urgent, Plancus becomes more cold, more embarrassed with difficulties, more unambitious. He evidently wants to retain the support of Cicero in his election to the Consulship, as well as his advocacy in some private cause, but has no intention of declaring himself against Antonius, and even suggests to the Senate the prudence of making peace with him. After the defeat of Antonius, he took the opportunity of settling a colony at Lugdunum. At length, however, he was forced out of his ambiguous neutrality. D. Brutus, after the battle of Mutina, fell back upon him, and compelled the junction of their forces. Together they awaited the declaration of Octavius; but when Asinius Pollio fell off to Antonius, Plancus followed the example, and Brutus, abandoned by their support, was slain in the Alps. During the proscriptions, Plancus

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