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

1046 MERCATOR. MERENDA.
learn from the full title that this end was ac- Dupin, Ecclesiastical History of the Fifth Century;
complished, and that the two hierarchs, with their the preface of Garnier; and the Prolegomena of
followers, were banished by an imperial edict, and Galland. [W. R.]
subsequently condemned in the Council of Ephesus MERCU'RIUS, a Roman divinity of commerce
(231) by the judgment of 275 bishops. and gain, probably one of the dii lucrii. The cha2. Commonitorium adversus Haeresin Pelagii et racter of the god is clear from his name, which is
Coelestii vel etiamn Scripta Juliani, made up of ex- connected with mneram and mercari. (Paul. Diac. p.
cerpts from the writings of Julianus, with answers 124, ed. MUller; Schol. ad Pens. Sat. v. 112.) A
(subnotationes) annexed by Mercator. Garnier temple was built to him as early as B. c. 495 (Liv.
gives to this production the title Liber Subnota- ii. 21, 27; Ov. Fast. v. 669), near the Circus
tionum ad Pieritium Presbyterum, and considers it as Maximus (P. Vict. Reg. Urb. xi.); and an altar of
consisting of two parts, the first, or Cossmmonitorium, the god existed near the Porta Capena, by the
being a preface or introduction; the second, or Sub- side of a well; and in later times a temple seems
notationes ad Verba Juliani, forming the main body to have been built on the samespot. (Ov. Fast.
of the work. v. 673; P. Vict. Reg. Urb. i.) Under the name
3. Refutatio Symboli YTeodori Mopsuestani, an of the ill-willed (malevolus), he had a statue in
examination of the false doctrine with regard to the what was called the vicus sobrius, or the sober
Nature of Christ, contained in a creed attributed street, in which no shops were allowed to be kept,
to Theodorus of Mopsuestia, the friend and supporter and milk was offered to him there instead of wine.
of Julianus. Of the following it will be enough to (Fest. pp. 161, 297, ed. MUller.) This statue had
give the names:-4. Comparatio Dogmatusm Pauli a purse in its hand, to indicate his functions.
Samosateni et Nestorii. 5. Sermones V. Nestorii (Schol. ad Pers. I.e.) His festival was celebrated
adversus Dei Genitricem M/lariamn. 6. Nestorii on the 25th of May, and chiefly by merchants,
Epistola ad Cyrillum Alexandrinum. 7. Cyrilli who also visited the well near the Porta Capena,
Alexandrini Epistola ad Nestorium. 8. Cyrilli to which magic powers were ascribed; and with
Alexandrini Epistola secunda ad Nestoriumt. 9. water from that well they used to sprinkle thenmCyrilli Alexandrini E~pistola ad Clericos suos. 10. selves and their merchandise, that they might be
Excerpta ex Codicibus Nestorii. 11. Ncstorii Ser- purified, and yield a large profit. (Ov. Fast. v.
smones IV. adversusHaeresim Pelagianam. 12. Nes- 670, &c.; Fest. p. 148, ed. Miiller.)
torii Epistola ad C(oelestium. 13. Nestorii Blas- The Romans of later times identified Mercurius,
phemiarzum Capitula, containing the replies of Nes- the patron of merchants and tradespeople, with the
torius to the letters of Pope Coelestinus and Cyril Greek Hermes, and transferred all the attributes
of Alexandria. 14. Synodus E/phesiana adversus and myths of the latter to the former (Hor. Carn.
Nestorium, extracts from those proceedings of this i. 10), although the Fetiales never recognised the
council which were most hostile to the views of identity; and instead of the caduceus used a sacred
Nestorius. 15. Cyrilli Alexandrini Apologeticus branch as the emblem of peace. The resemblance
adversus Orientales. 16. Cyrilli Alexandrini Apolo- between Mercurius and Hermes is indeed very
geticus adrersus Theodoretum. 17. Fragmenta Thleo- slight; and their identification is a proof of the
doreti, Diodori et Ibae. 18. Eutherii Tyanensis thoughtless manner in which the Romans acted in
Fragmentum. 19. Nestorii Epistola ad Papasn this respect. [Comp. HERMES.] [L. S.]
Coelestinum. 20. Epistola Synodicca Cyrilliad Nesto- MERCU'RIUS MO'NACHUS (Mepicozplos
~srium. 21. Cyrilli ~Scholia de Incarnatione Unigeniti. Mo'vaXos), the reputed author of a short treatise
Among the lost works of this author we may (or fragment) on the Pulse, published at Naples,
reckon the Libri contra Pelagianos, of which we in Greek and Latin, with notes and a long intro.
hear in the epistle of St. Augustin (cxciii.). Dupin duction, by Salvator Cyrillus, 8vo. 1812. It does
hazards a conjecture that the Hypognosticon, corm- not seem to be derived from Greek sources, and
monly attributed to the bishop of Hippo, may be nothing is known respecting the writer. Some
in reality the treatise in question. suppose him to have been a monk, who lived in
It is remarkable that no ancient writer, if we *the south of Italy, about the tenth century; but
except St. Augustine in the letter named above, Sprengel, in the last edition of his Gesck. der Arztakes any notice of Mercator, who remained alto- neikunde (ii. p. 560, quoted by Choulant in his
gether unknown until the seventeenth century, Handb. der BiicherksEnde fir die Aeltere Medicin)
when Holstein discovered a MS. of his works in conjectures that he lived in the thirteenth century,
the Vatican, and soon after a second was found by and derived his opinions from some one who had
Labbe, in the library of the Chapter of Beauvais. travelled in the East,-perhaps Carpini. Cardinal
Labbe printed the Common.itoriumn super Nomine Mai, however, in the preface to the fourth volume
Coelestii, in his collection of councils, fol. Paris, of his collection Classicor. Auctor. e Vatican. Codicib.
1671, vol. ii. pp. 1512-1517; a selection from Editor. (p. xii. &c.) affirms, apparently from actual
the Vatican MS. was published by Gabriel Ger- inspection of some manuscripts' containing the
beron, a Benedictine, under the assumed name of work, thatit does not belong to Mercurius at all,
Righerius, 12mo. Brux. 1673, and in the same but to a person called Abitianus. The writer has
year the first complete edition appeared at Paris in no means of deciding whether this assertion is corfolio, under the editorial inspection of the learned rect, but it agrees well enough with the proof
(;arnier, the text being formed upon a comparison arising from internal evidence that the work is deof the only two existing MSS. The most esteemed rived from Oriental sources, for this Abitianus must
edition is that of Baluze, 8vo. Par. 1684, reprinted be no other than the celebrated Arabic physician
with additions and corrections, by Galland, in his Abfu'All Ibn Sinfk, commonly called Avicenna.
Bibliotheca Patrum, vol. viii. pp. 615-737, fol. [ABITIANUS.1 [W. A. G. ]
Venet. 1772. A very full account of the labours MERCU'RIUS TRISMEGISTUS. [HERMES
of Garnier and Baluze will be found in Schone- TRISMEJ CISTUS.]
unta4%, Bib6. P'atru)-n Lat. vol. ii. ~ 16. See also MERENIDA, was a surname, of rare occur