of Malta's having been the island in question, that, had | he had prevailed, and Socrates had been ignominiousMeleda been the one, St. Paul would not have called ly put to death, the Athenians repented of their seat Syracuse in his way to Rhegium, "which is so far verity to the philosopher. Melitus was condemned to out of the track," says a writer who advocates this death; and Anytus, another of the accusers, to escape opinion, "that no example can be produced in the his- a similar fate, went into voluntary exile. (Diog. Latory of navigation of any ship going so far out of her ert., 2.) course, except it was driven by a violent tempest." MELIUS OF MÆLIUS, Spurius, a Roman knight, susThis argument tends principally to show that the wri-pected of aiming at kingly power, in consequence of ter had a very incorrect idea of the relative situations his uncommon hberality in supplying the populace with of the places to which he refers. The ship which car- corn. He was summoned by the dictator L. Q. Cinried St. Paul from the Adriatic to Rhegium would not cinnatus to appear before him; and, having refused deviate from its course more than half a day's sail by so to do, was slain on the spot by Ahala, the master touching at Syracuse; and the delay so occasioned of the horse. (Liv., 4, 13, seqq.-Vid. Equimelium.) would probably be but a few hours more than it would MELLA OF MELA, a small river of Cisalpine Gaul, have been had they proceeded to Syracuse in their way near Brixia. It retains its ancient name. (Virg., to the Straits of Messina from Malta. Besides, the Georg., 4, 278-Catullus, 66, 32.) master of the ship might have, and probably had, some MELOS, now Milo, an island in the Egean Sea, business at Syracuse, which had originated at Alexan- forming one of the group of the Cyclades. It was sitdrea, from which place it must have been originally in- uate, according to Strabo (84), about 700 stadia to tended that the ship should commence her voyage to the southeast of Cape Scyllæum, and nearly as many, Puteoli; and in this course the calling at Syracuse in a northeastern direction, from the Dictynnæan promwould have been the smallest deviation possible.-8. ontory in Crete. It was first inhabited by Phoenicians Again, supposing the ship to have come from Malta, (Steph. Byz., s. v. Mñλoç), and afterward colonized it must have been on account of some business, prob- by Lacedæmon, nearly 700 years, as Thucydides reably commercial, that they touched at Syracuse in lates, before the Peloponnesian war. This island adtheir way to Puteoli, as Malta is scarcely more than hered to the interest of that state against the Athenione day and night's sail from Syracuse: whereas ans, and successfully resisted at first an attempt made there might be some reasons respecting the voyage, by the latter to reduce it. (Thucyd., 3, 91.) But had the ship come from Meleda, which is more than some years after, the Athenians returned with a greatfive times that distance, and probably a more uncer- er force; and, on the rejection of all their overtures, in tain navigation.-9. As regards the wind Euroclydon, a conference which the historian has preserved to us, it may be observed, that the word evidently implies a they proceeded to besiege the principal town, which southeast wind. It is composed of Eupos, the south- they at length captured after a brave and obstinate reeast wind, and rλvdúv, a wave, an addition highly ex- sistance. Having thus gained possession of the city, pressive of the character and effects of this wind, but they, with a degree of barbarity peculiar to that age, probably chiefly applied to it when it became typhonic put all the males to death, enslaved the women and or tempestuous. Typhon is described by Pliny (2, children, and sent 500 colonists into the island. (Cra48) as præcipuo navigantium pestis, non antennas mer's Anc. Greece, vol. 3, p. 404.) modo, verum ipsa navigia contorta frangens. The course of the wind from the southeast would impel the ship towards the island of Crete, though not so directly but that they might weather it, as they in fact did, and got clear, though it appears they encountered some risk of being wrecked when running under, or to the south of, the island of Clauda or Gaudos, which lies opposite to the port of Phoenice, the place where they proposed to winter. A circumstance occurs in this part of the narrative which creates some difficulty. They who navigated the ship were apprehensive of falling among the Syrtes, which lay on the coast of Africa, nearly to the southwest of the western point of Crete. But we should consider that this danger lay only in the fears of the mariners, who, knowing the MEMMIA (more correctly REMMIA) Lex, a law, by Syrtes to be the great terror of those seas, and prob- whom proposed, or in what year, is uncertain. It orably not being able to ascertain from what quarter the dained, that an accusation should not be admitted wind blew, neither sun nor stars having been visible against those who were absent in the service of the for several days, and as these violent typhonic Le- public. (Val. Max., 3, 7, 9.-Suet., Vit. Jul., 23); vanters are apt to change their direction, might en- and if any one was convicted of false accusation, that tertain apprehensions that they might be cast on these he should be branded on the forehead with a letter; dangerous quicksands. The event, however, proved probably K, as anciently the name of this crime was that the place of their danger was mistaken. (Class-written KALUMNIA.—As regards the correct form ical Journal, vol. 19, p. 212, seqq. Hale's Anal- of the name of this law, consult Heineccius, Ant. Rom., ysis of Chronology, vol. 1, p. 464, seqq., ed. 2d, p. 731, ed. Haubold. 1830.) MELPES, a river of Lucania, flowing into the sea to the southeast of the promontory of Palinurus. (Plin., 3, 5.) It is now the Molpa, and is probably the same stream which Lycophron (v. 1083) calls the Membles. MELPOMENE, one of the Muses, daughter of Jupiter and Mnemosyne. Her name is derived from μéλñouɑι, "to celebrate in song." She presided over tragedy, of which the poets made her the inventress. Hence the language of Ausonius, “ Melpomene tragico proclamat moesta boatu." (Auson., Idyll. ult., v. 2.) She was commonly represented as veiled, and holding in her hand a tragic mask. Her instrument was the lyre. Melpomene became, by the river-god Achelous, the mother of the Sirens. (Vid. Musæ.) MEMMI, the name of one of the branches of an old MELITENE, a district of Asia Minor, in the south-plebeian house, who were themselves subdivided into eastern part of Armenia Minor, and lying along the the families of the Galli and Gemelli. The most reright bank of the Euphrates. The soil was fertile, markable of the Memmii were the following-I. C. and yielded fruits of every kind; in this respect dif- Memmius Gallus, was prætor B.C. 176 and 170, and fering from the rest of Cappadocia, of which Armenia afterward ambassador to the Etolians.-II. C. MemMinor was a part. The chief product was oil, and a mius Gallus, son of the preceding, was tribune of the wine called Monarites, which equalled the best of Gre-commons, and a bold and popular speaker. It was cian growth. (Strab., 535. — Plin., 6, 3.) Its capital was Melitene, now Malatie, on a branch of the river Melas. (Plin., 5, 24.—Steph. Byz., s. v.-Procop., de Edif., 3, 5.) he who induced the people to summon Jugurtha, king of Numidia, to Rome, in order to expose, if possible, by his means, the corruption of the Roman nobility. (Vid. Jugurtha.) He was afterward elected consul, MELITUS, one of the accusers of Socrates. After B.C. 100, but was assassinated by Glaucia, a dis appointed candidate. (Vid. Marius.)-III. L. Mem- | he is mentioned by Demosthenes as a young man in mius Gemellus, was tribune of the commons B.C. B.C. 352. (Aristocrat., p. 672.) Memnon possessed 64, and prætor B.C. 59, in which latter capacity he great military talents, and was intrusted by Darius had the government of Bithynia. He was distinguish- Codomannus, the last king of Persia, on the invasion ed as an orator and poet, and was the friend and patron of Asia by Alexander, with an extensive command in of Catullus and Lucretius, the latter of whom dedicated Western Asia; but his plans were thwarted and ophis poem to him. Cicero describes him as a man of posed by the satraps, and it was contrary to his advice great literary acquirements, and well acquainted with that the Persians offered battle to the Macedonians at the Grecian language and literature. (Brut., 70.) the Granicus. After the defeat of the Persians on this The same writer, however, represents him elsewhere occasion, Memnon was appointed to the chief command as a man of licentious habits. (Ep. ad Att., 1, 18.) in Western Asia, as the only general who was able to He was an opponent of Cæsar's, and was driven into oppose the Macedonians. He first retired to Miletus, exile by means of the latter, on the charge of bribery and afterward withdrew to Halicarnassus in Caria, in suing for the consulship, and also of extortion in the which he defended against Alexander, and only abanprovince of Bithynia. He died in exile.(Cic., Ep. doned it at last when it was no longer possible to hold ad Fam., 13, 1.-Manut., ad loc.-Id., Ep. ad All., out. After the fall of Halicarnassus, Memnon entered 6, 1.-Ernesti, Ind. Hist., s. v.) into negotiations with the Lacedæmonians, with the MEMNON, I. a personage frequently mentioned by view of attacking Macedonia. He was now completethe Greek writers. He is first spoken of in the Odys-ly master of the sea, and proceeded to subdue the islsey as the son of Eos, or the morning, as a hero re- ands in the Egean. He took Chios, and obtained markable for his beauty, and as the vanquisher of An- possession of the whole of Lesbos, with the exception tilochus (4, 188; 11, 521). Hesiod calls him the of Mytilene, before which place he died, B.C. 333. King of the Ethiopians, and represents him as the son The loss of Memnon was fatal to the Persian cause : of Tithonus. (Theog., 986.) He is supposed to have if he had lived, he would probably have invaded Macefought against the Greeks in the Trojan war, and to donia, and thus have compelled Alexander to give up have been slain by Achilles. In the Yuxooraoía, a his prospects of Asiatic conquest, in order to defend lost drama of Æschylus, the dead body of Memnon is his own dominions. (Arrian, Exp. Al., 1, 20, seqq.— carried away by his mother Eos. (Fragm. No. 261, Id. ib., 2, 1, seqq.-Diod. Sic., 16, 52.-Id., 17, 23, ed. Dindorf) He is represented by most Greek wri- seqq.-Encycl. Üs. Knowl., vol. 15, p. 89.)-III. A ters as King of the Ethiopians, but he is also said to native of Heraclea Pontica, in Bithynia, generally rehave been connected with Persia. According to Dio-garded as contemporary with Augustus, but who, in dorus (2, 22), Tithonus, the father of Memnon, govern- the opinion of some critics, ought to be placed in a laed Persia, at the time of the Trojan war, as the viceroy ter period. He wrote a history of his native city, and of Teutamus, the Assyrian king; and Memnon erected of the tyrants who had ruled over it, in twenty-four at Susa the palace which was afterward known by the books. Photius has preserved for us an abridgment, name of Memnonium. Diodorus also adds, that the or, rather, an extract from the 9th to the 16th book; Ethiopians claimed Memnon as a native of their coun- for already, in his time, the first eight, as also the last try. Pausanias combines the two accounts: he repre- eight books, were lost; and it is precisely from this cirsents Memnon as king of the Ethiopians, but also says cumstance that we are unable to fix the period when that he came to Troy from Susa, and not from Ethio- the history terminated, and which would give us some pia, subduing all the nations in his way. (Pausan, idea of the time when the author flourished. The ex10, 31, 6.-Id., 1, 42, 2.) Eschylus also, according tracts preserved by Photius are more interesting from to Strabo, spoke of the Cissian, that is, Susian, parent- the fact of Memnon's speaking, in the course of them, age of Memnon (Strabo, 720): and Herodotus men- by way of digression, of other nations and communities tions the palace at Susa, called Memnonia, and also with whom his townsmen had at any time political insays, that the city itself was sometimes described by tercourse or relations. These extracts extend from the same name. (Herod., 5, 53, seg.-Id., 7, 151.) the first year of the 104th Olympiad (B.C. 364) to The great majority of Greek writers agree in tracing B.C. 46.-The latest and best edition of the fragments the origin of Memnon to Egypt or Ethiopia; and it is of Memnon is that of Orellius, Lips., 1816, 8vo, connot improbable that the name of Memnon was not taining fragments of the works of other writers of Herknown in Susa till after the Persian conquest of Egypt, aclea. (Schöll, Hist. Lit. Gr., vol. 4, p. 105.) and that the buildings there called Memnonian by the MEMNONIUM, I. the citadel of Susa. The city also Greeks were, in name, at least, the representative of bore the epithet of "Memnonian." (Herod., 5, 54; those in Egypt. The partial deciphering of the Egyp-7, 151.-Compare remarks under the article Memtian proper names affords us sufficient reason for be- non I.)-H. A splendid structure at Thebes, in Egypt, lieving, with Pausanias (1, 42, 2), that the Memnon of on the western side of the river. The ruins of the the Greeks may be identified with the Egyptian Pha- Memnonium are regarded at the present day as permenoph, Phamenoth, Amenophis, or Amenothph, of haps the most ancient in Thebes. This beautiful relic which name the Greek one is probably only a corrup- of antiquity looks to the east, and is fronted by a vast tion. Phamenoph is said to mean "the guardian of propylæon, of which 234 feet in length are still rethe city of Ammon," or " devoted to Ammon," "be- maining. The main edifice has been about 200 feet longing to Ammon."-Memnon, then, must be regard-wide and 600 feet long, containing six courts and ed as one of the early heroes or kings of Egypt, whose fame reached Greece in very early times. In the eighteenth dynasty of Manetho the name of Amenophis occurs, with this remark: "This is he who is supposed to be the Memnon and the vocal stone." He is Amenophis II., and the son of Thutmosis, who is said to have driven the shepherds out of Egypt.-As regards the vocal statue of Memnon, consult the article Memnonium II. (Encycl. Us. Knowl., vol. 15, p. 88, seq.) -II. A native of Rhodes, the brother of the wife of Artabazus satrap of Lower Phrygia. He was advanced, together with his brother Mentor, to offices of great trust and power by Darius Ochus, king of Persia. We are ignorant of the time of Memnon's birth, but chambers, passing from side to side, with about 160 columns thirty feet high. All the sidewalks have been broken down, and the materials of which they were composed carried away; nothing remaining but a portion of the colonnade and the inner chambers, to testify to the traveller what a noble structure once occupied this interesting spot. Champollion considers the Memnonium to be the same with the tomb of Osymandias, described by Diodorus Siculus (1, 47). In the Memnonium is still to be seen the statue of Osymandias. It is pronounced to be by far the finest relic of art which the place contains, and to have been once its brightest ornament, though at present it is thrown down from its pedestal, laid prostrate on the ground, and shattered into a thousand pieces. It tion is as follows: "I write after having heard Memis about 26 feet broad between the shoulders, 54 feet non.--Cambyses hath wounded me, a stone cut into round the chest, and 13 feet from the shoulder to the an image of the Sun-king. I had formerly the sweet elbow. There are on the back and on both arms voice of Memnon, but Cambyses has deprived me of hieroglyphical tablets, extremely well executed, which the accents which express joy and grief.—You relate identify this enormous statue with the hero whose grievous things. Your voice is now obscure. Oh achievements are sculptured on the walls of the tem- wretched statue! I deplore your fate." (American ple. This figure has sometimes been confounded Quarterly Review, No. 9, p. 32.-Compare Champolwith that which bears the name of Memnon, and lion, Précis du Système Hieroglyphique, vol. 1, p. which has so long been celebrated for its vocal quali- 236.) It will be perceived, from the first of these ties. The latter, however, is one of the two statues inscriptions, that Memnon, as we have already revulgarly called Shama and Dama, which stand a little marked in a previous article (Memnon I.), is made distance from Medinet Abou towards the Nile. These, identical with the Egyptian Phamenoph; and, in fact, we are told, are nearly equal in magnitude, being about the hieroglyphic legend on the statue, as deciphered 52 feet in height. The thrones on which they re-by Champollion, shows it to have been the effigy of spectively rest are 30 feet long, 18 broad, and be- Amenophis. There is some difficulty, however, nottween seven and eight feet high. They are placed withstanding these inscriptions, in identifying this about 40 feet asunder; are in a line with each other, statue with the one described by Strabo and Pausaniand look towards the east, directly opposite to the as. These writers say that the upper part had in temple of Luxor. If there be any difference of size, their time fallen down or been broken off; but at the southern one is the smaller. It appears to be of present the upper part exists in its proper position, one entire stone. The face, arms, and front of the though not in a single piece, being adapted to the body have suffered so much from studied violence, lower portion of the body by courses of the common that not a feature of the countenance remains. The sandstone used so generally in the buildings of Thebes. head-dress is beautifully wrought, as are also the shoul- Heeren conjectures that the broken statue might have ders, which, with the back, continue quite uninjured been repaired after the time of Strabo. Of the fact The massy hair projects from behind the ears like that that the statue of Memnon uttered sounds when the of the sphinx. The sides of the throne are highly sun shone upon it, there can be no doubt as to the ornamented with the elegant device of two bearded mode, however, in which this was effected, great difigures tying the stem of the flexible lotus round the versity of opinion exists. It has been thought by ligula. The colossus is in a sitting posture, with the some, that the priests of Thebes might have fabricated, hands resting on the knees. The other statue, which by mechanical art, a kind of speaking head, the springs stands on the north side, appears to be that of the of which were so arranged that it sent forth sounds vocal Memnon. It presents the same attitude as its at the rising of the sun. Such an explanation, howcompanion. This famous statue was said to utter, ever, is altogether unsatisfactory; the circumstances when it was struck by the first beams of the sun, a of the case are directly against it. The more genersound like the snapping asunder of a musical string. ally received opinion ascribes the sound to some pe(Pausan., 1, 42, 3.) Cambyses, who spared not the culiar property in the stone itself, of which the Egyp Egyptian god Apis, suspecting some imposture, broke tian priests artfully took advantage, though in what the statue from the head to the middle of the body, way is quite uncertain. Alexander Humboldt speaks but discovered nothing. Strabo (816), who visited of certain sounds that are heard to proceed from the the spot in a later age, states that he saw two colos- rocks on the banks of the Oronoko, in South America, sal figures, one of them erect, and the other broken off at sunrise: these he attributed to confined air making from above, and the fragments lying on the ground. its escape from crevices or caverns, where the differHe adds, however, a tradition, that this had been oc- ence of the internal and external temperature is concasioned by an earthquake. The geographer says siderable. The French savans attest to their having that he and Ælius Gallus, with many other friends heard such sounds at Carnak, on the east bank of the and a large number of soldiers, were standing by these Nile; and hence it has been conjectured that the statues early in the morning, when they heard a cer- priests, who had observed this phenomenon, took adtain sound, but could not determine whether it came vantage of their knowledge, and contrived, by what from the colossus, or the base, or from the surrounding means we know not, to make the credulous believe multitude. He mentions also that it was a current that a similar sound proceeded from the colossal statbelief that the sound came from that part of the statue ue of Phamenoph. (British Museum, Egypt. Anwhich remained on the base. Pliny and Tacitus tiq., vol. 1, p. 266.) Mr. Wilkinson, however, in mention the sound produced from the statue without his work on the "Topography of Thebes" (Lond., having themselves heard it (Plin., 36, 11.- Tacit., 1835), gives a far more satisfactory solution of the difAnn., 2, 61.-Compare Juvenal, 15, 5), and Lucian ficulty. "The sound which this statue uttered," obinforms us that Demetrius went on purpose to Egypt served this writer," was said to resemble the breaking to see the pyramids and Memnon's statue, from which of a harp-string, or, according to the preferable aua voice proceeded at the rising of the sun. (Toxaris, thority of a witness, a metallic ring (one of the in6, 27.) It was a general persuasion, indeed, among scriptions says, 'like brass when struck'), and the the Egyptians as well as others, that before Cambyses memory of its daily performance is still retained in the broke this colossus, it uttered the seven mysterious traditional appellation of Salamat, salutations,' by vowels. What characterizes, however, in a particu- the modern inhabitants of Thebes. In the lap of lar degree, the statue of vocal celebrity, is the inscrip- the statue is a stone, which, on being struck, emits tions, both in Greek and Latin, in verse and prose, with a metallic sound, that might still be made use of to which its legs are covered. Most of these inscriptions deceive a visiter who was predisposed to believe in belong to the period of the early Roman emperors, its powers; and from its position, and a square space and all attest that the writers had heard the heavenly cut in the block behind, as if to admit a person who voice of Memnon at the first dawn of day. Transla- might thus lie concealed from the most scrutinous obtions of two of these inscriptions follow: "I, Publius server in the plain below, it seems to have been used Balbinus, heard the divine voice of Memnon or Pha- after the restoration of the statue; and another simimenoph. I came in company with the Empress Sabi- lar recess exists beneath the present site of this stone, na, at the first hour of the sun's course, the 15th year which might have been intended for the same purpose of the reign of Hadrian, the 24th day of Athyr, the when the statue was in its mutilated state. Mr. Bur25th of the month of November." The other inscrip-ton and I first remarked the metallic sound of this order to enjoy, probably, the cool breezes from the sea, and Thebes would then appear to have declined in importance. The circuit of Memphis is given by Diodorus at 150 stadia, from which it would seem that stone in the lap of the statue in the year 1824, and conjectured that might have been used to deceive the Roman visiters; but the nature of the sound, which did not agree with the accounts given by ancient authors, seemed to present an insuperable objec-it was still larger in compass than the city of Thebes. tion. In a subsequent visit to Thebes in 1830, on again examining the statue and its inscriptions, I found that one Ballilla had compared it to the striking of brass; and feeling convinced that this authority was more decisive than the vague accounts of those wri-drea being the capital: but its decay had already beters who had never heard it, I determined on posting some peasants below and ascending myself to the lap of the statue, with a view of hearing from them the impression made by the sound. Having struck the sonorous block with a small hammer, I inquired what they heard, and their answer, Ente betidrob e'nahás, 'You are striking brass,' convinced me that the sound was the same that deceived the Romans, and led Strabo to observe that it appeared to him as the effect of a slight blow." (Wilkinson's Topography of Thebes, p. 36, seq.)-The head of the colossal Memnon in the British Museum has no claim to be considered the vocal Memnon described by Strabo, Tacitus, and Pausanias. The height of the figure to which the head belongs was about 24 feet when entire. There is also an entire colossal Memnon in the British Museum 9 feet 6 inches high, which is a copy of the great Memnon at Thebes. (Hamilton's Egyptiaca. - Philological Museum, No. 4, art. Memnon.-Encycl. Us. Knowl., vol. 15, p. 88, seqq.) MEMPHIS, a famous city of Egypt, on the left side of the Nile. Concerning the epoch of its foundation and its precise situation, writers are not agreed. With regard to its position, it would seem, from a review of all the authorities which bear upon the subject, that Memphis stood about 15 miles south of the Apex of the Delta: this, at least, is D'Anville's opinion. Herodotus (2, 99) assigns the founding of Memphis to Menes, and Diodorus (1, 50) to Uchoreus. From the account given by the former of these writers, it would seem that the Nile originally ran nearer the Libyan mountains, and that Menes, having erected a large dam about a hundred stadia south of the spot where Memphis afterward stood, caused the river to pursue a more easterly course. After he had thus diverted the current of the stream, he built Memphis within the ancient bed of the Nile. The great embankment was always an object of attention, and Herodotus states that under the Persian dominion it was annually repaired; for if the river had at any time broken through the bank, the whole city would have been inundated. In Memphis the same Menes erected a magnificent temple to Vulcan or Phtha. (Herod., l. c.) What Herodotus partly saw and partly learned from the lips of the priests relative to this city, Diodorus confirms (1, 50). He, too, speaks of the large embankment, of a vast and deep excavation which received the water of the river, and which, encircling the city, excep in the quarter where the mound was constructed, rendered it secure against any hostile attack. He differs from Herodotus, however, in making, as has already been remarked, Uchoreus to have been its founder. On this point, indeed, there appears to have been a great diversity of opinion among the ancient writers, for we find the building of Memphis assigned also to Epaphus (Schol., in Stat., Theb., 4, 737) and to Apis. (Syncellus, p. 149.-Compare Wesseling, ad Diod. Sic., l. c.) It is more than probable, that the Egyptian priests themselves were possessed of no definite information on this head, and that Memphis was the capital of Lower Egypt, as Thebes was of Upper Egypt, at a very early period, when the land was under the sway of many contemporaneous monarchs. When, however, the whole country was united under one king, the royal residence would seem to have been transferred to Memphis, in Memphis is supposed to have suffered much in the in- sand years must have done towards its destruction, | Piræus, and a line in the Ibis of Ovid is supposed by there are yet found in it works so wonderful that they confound even a reflecting mind, and are such as the most eloquent would not be able to describe. The more you consider them, the more does your astonishment increase; and the more you look at them, the more pleasure you experience. Every idea which they suggest immediately gives birth to some other still more novel and unexpected; and as soon as you imagine that you have traced out their full scope, you discover that there is something still greater behind." Among the works here alluded to, he specifies a monolithic temple similar to the one mentioned by Herodotus, adorned with curious sculptures. He next expatiates upon the idols found among the ruins, not less remarkable for the beauty of their forms, the exactness of their proportions, and perfect resemblance to nature, than for their truly astonishing dimensions. We measured one of them, he says, which, without including the pedestal, was 45 feet in length, 15 feet from side to side, and from back to front in the same proportion. It was of one block of red granite, covered with a coating of red varnish, the antiquity of which seemed only to increase its lustre. The ruins of Memphis, in his time, extended to the distance of half a day's journey in every direction. But so rapidly has the work of destruction proceeded since the twelfth century, that few points have been more debated by modern travellers than the site of this celebrated metropolis. The investigations of the French, as has already been remarked, appear to have decided the question. "At Myt-Rahyneh (Metrahainé), one league from Saccara, we found," says General Dugna, "so many blocks of granite covered with hieroglyphics and sculptures around and within an esplanade three leagues in circumference, enclosed by heaps of rubbish, that we were convinced these must be the ruins of Memphis. The sight of some fragments of one of those colossusses, which Herodotus says were erected by Sesostris at the entrance of the temple of Vulcan, would, indeed, have been sufficient to dispel our doubts had any remained. The wrist of this colossus shows that it must have been 45 feet high." (Russell's Egypt, p. 216, seqq.)-Memphis is thought by many to have been the Noph of Scripture. (Isaiah, 19, 13.-Jer., 2, 16.-Ezek., 30, 13-16.) MENANDER (Mévavdpoç), I. a celebrated comic poet of Athens, born B.C. 342. According to Suidas, he was the son of Diopithes and Hegistraté, was crosseyed, and yet clear-headed enough (σrpabòs ràs över bùç de Tov vovv). His father was at this time commander of the forces stationed by the Athenians at the Hellespont, and must therefore have been a man of some consequence. Alexis, the comic poet, was his uncle and instructer in the drama. (Proleg., Aristoph., p. 30.) Theophrastus was his tutor in philosophy and literature, and he may have derived from the latter the knowledge of character for which he was so eminent. (Diog. Laert., 5, 36.) The merit of his pieces obtained for him the title of Chief of the New Comedy. His compositions were remarkable for their elegance, refined wit, and knowledge of human nature. In his 21st year he brought out the 'Opyn, his first drama. (Proleg., Aristoph., p. xxx.) He lived 29 years more, dying B.C. 292, after having composed 105 plays, according to some authorities (Apollod., ap. Aul. Gell., 17, 4), and according to others 108. (Suidas-yeуpage kwuwdiac pn.) He gained the prize, however, only eight times, notwithstanding the number of his productions, and although he was the most admired writer of his time. One hundred and fifteen titles of comedies ascribed to him have come down to us; but it is clear, of course, that all these are not correctly attributed to him. (Fabric., Biblioth. Gr., vol. 2, p. 460, 468, ed. Harles.) Menander is said to have been drowned while bathing in the harbour of some to allude to this: "Comicus ut mediis perit dum |