A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

MELANTHIUS. MELANTHUS. 1015
cruelly killed by Odysseus. (Hom. Od. xvii. 212, Athenaeus informs us that Melanthius also wrote
&c., xxi. 176, xxii. 474, &c.) [L. S.] elegies (viii. p. 343, d.), and Plutarch (Cim. 4)
MELA'NTHIUS (MeAveOios), an Athenian refers to the epigrammatic elegies of Melanthius on
tragic poet, who seems to have been of some dis- Cimon and Polygnotus, of which he quotes one
tinction in his day, but of whom little is now distich. But if the Melanthius quoted by Plutarch
known bnyond the attacks made on him by the lived and wrote in the time of Cimon, as he seems
comic poets. Eupolis, Aristophanes, Pherecrates, clearly to mean, he could not have been, as AtheLeucon, and Plato, satirized him unmercifully; and naeus supposed, the same person as the tragic poet.
it is remarkable that he was attacked ill all the (Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. ii. p. 310; Ulrici, Hellen.
three comedies which gained the first three places Dicitkunst, vol. ii. p. 572; Welcker, Die Griech.
in the dramatic contest of B. c. 419, namely, the Trag. pp. 1030-1032; Kayser, Hist. Crit. Trag.
Joka'ces of Eupolis, the Eiprvrl of Aristophanes, Graec. pp. 59-65.) [P. S.]
and the @,poropes of Leucon (Athen. viii. p. 343; MELA'NTHIUS or MELANTHUS (MeXavSchol. ad Aristop/s. Pac. 804). He is again Otos, MlesavOos), an eminent Greek painter of the
attacked by Aristophanes in the'Opvresr, B. C. Sicyonian school, was contemporary with Apelles
414. In addition to these indications of his date, (B.c. 332), with whom he studied under Pamwe are informed of a remark made by him upon philus, and whom he was considered even to excel
the tragedies of Diogenes Oenomaus, who flourished in one respect, namely, in composition or grouping
about B. C. 400 (Plut. de Aud. p. 41, c.). The (dispositio).. Quinctilian praises his ratio, by which
story of his living at the court of Alexander of perhaps he means the samne thing. (Plin. xxxv.
Pherae, who began to reign B. C. 369, is not very 10. s. 36. ~~ 8, 10, adopting in the latter passage
probable, considering the notoriety which he had the reading of the Bamberg MS., which Brotier
acquired fifty years earlier, and yet the allusion had previously suggested,.Melant/io for Ampkioni;
made to his position and conduct there is quite in Quinctil. xii. 10.)
keeping with all that we know of his character He was one of the best colourists of all the Greek
(Plut. de Adul. et Amic. p. 50, e.). painters: Pliny mentions him as one of the four
The most important passage respecting Melan- great painters who made " immortal works " with
thins is that in the Peace of Aristophanes (796, only four colours. (H. Nr xxxv. 7. s. 32; comp.
&c.), which we subjoin in the form in which Dict. of Ant. s. v. Colores.) The only one of his
Welcker gives it: pictures mentioned is the portrait of Aristratus,
tyrant of Sicyon, riding in a triumphal chariot,
TosacsE Xpi) Xaptrcssv sa.uT a -ra KaxcbCce Todv which was painted by Melanthius and his pupils,
ffO~uIM 2?L7c roT 5J5C5?5'?Jy XeAband some parts of which were said to have been
5uv5vW, o~av Ijvoperav a p 7 Xen\86v touched by the hand of Apelles; and respecting
{opsfei Kehasp, %XopoV Be EX nXp?7 MdPoV 0 os, the fate of which a curious story is quoted from
-u1li Mexdvosos, o 8i) 7rLKpoTar7V' o7ra y7lpdvar- Polemon by Plutarch (Arat. 13); from whom also.ToS r-,OUvr' we learn the high esteem in which the pictures of
I7vrKa Ircv rpay ~cds o xdpev sov de~spdse 0 Melanthius were held. (Ibid. 12; comp. Plin.
Kal aurrds 5ad.o/' NH. N. xxxv. 7. s. 32.) Melanthius wrote a work
roIp1yovCe osoepayoI, caT18s0Koirol, &pirnulat, upon his art ('repl e'oypanpuKIcS), from which a
7paosro-al,,u apol,'rpa'youc~fsaXos, LXOvov~uiar. passage is quoted by Diogenes (iv. 18), and which
It has been much doubted whether the -fifth line Pliny cites among the authorities for the 35th book
of his Natural History. [P. S.]
means that Melanthius and Morsimus were brothers, of his MLatura History. [P. S.]
or whether we should understand the word dsEAh- MELANTHO (Mea0). A daughter of
(pos to refer to some brother of Melanthius, whose Dolius, and sister of Melanthius; she was a slave
d to refer to some brother of Melanthius, whose in the house of Odysseus; and having sided, like
name is not mentioned. The two ancient scholiasts he
hel. o e o s on te pt.. her brother, with the suitors, she was hanged by
held opposite opinions on the point (comp. Suid. Odysseus. (om. Od. xviii. 321; Paus. x. 25.
s. v.); while among modern scholars, the former O 1)
view is held by Ulrici, Meineke, Weleker, and
view is held by Ilrici, Meineke, Welcker, and 2. A daughter of Deucalion, became the mother
Kayser, and the latter by Elmsley, Bickh, Muiller of Delphus, by Poseidon, who deceived her in the
and Clinton (comp. Elms. ad Eurip. Mfed. 96, with of a dolphin. (Tzetz. ad Lyc. 208; Ov. Met.
Welcker, die G~riec/. Trayiid. p. 1029). The form of a dolphin. (Tzetz. ad Lye. 208; Ov. Met.
Welcker, die Grieelc. Tra#gd. p. 1029). The
character given of Melanthius in the above extract, i.
his worthlessness as a poet, his voracious gluttony, MELANTHUS (Meaves).
Tyrrhenian pirates, who wanted tO carry off young
his profligacy, and his personal offensiveness, is con- Tyrrhenian pis, were metaorphoed to carry off young
firmed by several other passages of the comic poets (Ov. Met. iii. 671, &c.)
and other writers (Aristoph. Pax, 999, Av. 152, and 2 One of the sons o Laocoon. (Serv. ad Aen.
* Archippus, ap. At/e. viii. p. 343;* Athen. 2. One of the sons of Laocoon. (Serv. ad Aen.
Sc/sol.; Al.; ippus, ap. Aten. v. p. 343; Athen..ii 211.) In Lycophron (767) the name occurs as
i. p. 6, c.). He was celebrated for his wit, of a surname-of Poseidon. [L. S.]
which several specimens are preserved (Plut. de ELANTHUS or MELA'NTHIUS (MesavAud. Post. p. 20, c., de Aud. p. 41, c., de Adul. et Os, MEAdvOLes), one of the Neleidae, and king of
AiniC. p. 50, d., Coning. Praec. p. 144, b., Sympos.
Ai. p. 50, d., Cojug. Prec p. 144, b., ypos. Messenia, whence he was driven out by the Herap. 631, d., p. 633, d.). Aristophanes has preserved cleidae on their conquest of the Peloponnesus,
the title and two lines, somewhat parodied, of one and, following the instructions of the Delph
of his dramas, the Medea, for it is absurd to sup- oracle, took refuge inAttica. In a war between
pose the Medea of Euripides is meant (Pax, 999); the Athenians and Boe
the Athenians and Boeotians, Xanthus, the Boeoand Plutarch has more than once (De cohib. Ira king, chalnged Thymoetes, king
tian king, challenged Thymoetes, king of Athens
p. 453, f., 4d sera Nun. Vindict. p. 551.) quoted and the last of the Theseidae, to single combat.
a line, in which EMelanthius says that O fv vbs Thymoetes declined the challenge on the ground of
T d BeIra 7rpd'rel Tciar ppe'vas Jsseolttoas age and infirmity. So ran the story, which strove
3 T 4