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

MERIONES. MEROBAUDES. 1047
rence in the Antonian and Cornelian gentes at together with Idomeneus, at Cnossus. (Diod. v.
Rome. Merenda signifies the mid-day meal (Fest. 79.) [L. S.
in v. p. 123, Muell. ed.; Non. p. 28, 32;- comp. MEIRMERUS (Meppuepos). 1. A son of
Isidor. Orig. xx. 2. ~ 12), and the word, un- Pheres, and grandson of Jason and Medeia. He
changed in form, is extant in the modern Neapo- was the father of Ilus and Ephyra, and skilled in
litan dialect. The Merenda branch of the Gens the art of preparing poison. (Hoem. Od. i. 260;
Antonia was patrician (Dionys. x. 58) [ANTONIA Eustath. ad Honm. p. 1416.)
GENS]. 2. A son of Jason and Medeia, is also called
1. T. ANTONIUS MERENDA, was decemvir in Macareus or Mormorus (Hygin. Fab. 239; Tzetz.
B. c. 450-49, and was defeated by the Aequians ad Lye. 175); he was murdered, together with his
on the Algidus. (Dionys. x. 58, xi. 23, 33; Liv. brother Pheres, by his mother at Corinth. (Apollod.
iii. 35, 38, 41, 42; Fasti.) i. 9. ~ 28; Hygin. Fab. 25; Diod/.iv. 54.) Ac2. Q. ANTONIUS T. F. MERENDA, probably a cording to others he was stoned to death by the
son of the preceding, was tribune of the soldiers, Corinthians (Paus. ii. 3. ~ 6; Schol. ad Eurip.
with consular authority, in B. c. 422. (Liv. iv. Med. 10), or he was killed during the chase by a
42; Fasti.) lioness. (Paus. ii. 3. ~ 7.) A centaur, Mermerus,
3. SERVIUS CORNELIUS MERENDA, was legatus is mentioned by Ovid. (Met. xii. 305.) [L. S.]
in B.c. 275, to the consul L. Cornelius Lentulus ME'RMNADAE (Mepuvisoa), a Lydian family,
[LENTULUS, No. 5], and was presented by him, which, on the murder of Candaules by Gyges, sucfor the capture of a town in Samnium, with a ceeded the Heracleidae on the throne of Lydia,
golden chaplet of five pounds' weight. In the fol- and held it for five generations, during a period of
lowing year Merenda was consul, and again com- 170 years (about 716-546). The successive somanded in Samnlium and Lucania. (Plil. H. N. vereigns of this-family were Gyges, Ardys, Sadvxxxiii. II1; Fasti.) [W. B. D.] attes, Alyattes, Croesus. (See these articles, and
MERGUS, 31. LAETO'RIUS. [LAETORIUS, comp. DEIocES; also Thirlwall's Greece, vol. ii. pp.
No. 3.] 157, 158; Clint. F. H. vol. i. sub anno 716, vol. ii.
ME'RICUS, a leader of Spanish mercenaries in App. xvii.) [E. E.]
the service of Syracuse at the time when that city MEROBAUDES, FLA'VIUS. In the collecwas besieged by Marcellus.' After the departure tion of the Christian poets by G. Fabricius, fol.
of Epicydes, and the massacre of the officers whom Basel. 1564, we find (p. 765) thirty hexameters,
he had left in the command, six new praetors were De Christo, said to be the work " Merobaudis Hisappointed, of whom Mericus was one; but he en- panici Scholastici,"- taken, as we are assured by the
tered into a correspondence with his countrymen editor, from a very ancient MS. This hymn was,
in the Roman service; and being entrusted with at a subsequent period, most erroneously ascribed
the charge of part of the island of Ortygia, took the to Claudian, and in all the later impressions of his
opportunity to admit a body of Roman troops into poems is placed among the Epigrammata, and
that fortress. By this means Marcellus became numbered xcviii.
master of the citadel, which soon led to the capture About the year 1812 or 1813 the base of a
of the whole city, B.c. 212. Mericus was re- statue was dug up in the Ulpian forum at Rome,
warded for his treachery by appearing in the ova- bearing a long inscription in honour of Flavius
tion of the Roman general adorned with a crown Merobaudes, who:is declared to have been equally
of gold, besides the more substantial benefits of the brave and learned, capable of performing glorious
Roman franchise, and an assignment of 500 jugera deeds, and of celebrating the achievements of others,
of lands (Liv. xxv. 30, 31, xxvi. 21.) [E. H. B.] well skilled in wielding both the sword and the
MStRI,ONES (M7povr7S), sonofMolus (Hom. pen, a gallant and experienced- soldier, a bard
I1. xiii. 249), conjointly with Idomeneus, led the worthy of the Heliconian wreath.''It is then set
Cretans in 80.ships against Troy (ii. 651, iv. 254), forth that, as a tribute to his rare qualities, a
where he was one of the bravest heroes, and ugu- brazen image had been erected- in the Ulpian
ally acted together with his friend Idomeneus (viii. forum, on the 29th of July, in the 15th consulship
264, x. 58, xiii. 275, 304, xv. 302, xvii. 258). of Theodosius, and the 4th of Valentinian (A. D.
lie slew Phereclus (v. 59), Hippotion, and Morys 435).
(xiv. 514), Adamas (xiii. 567), Harpalion (xiii. Ten years afterwards Niebuhr succeeded in de650), Acamas (xvi. 342), Laogonus (xvi. 603), and cyphering, upon eight leaves of a palimpsest bewounded Deiphobus (xiii. 528). He also offered longing to the monastery of St. Gall, several Latin
to fight with Hector, who afterwards slew his verses, which, from the subjects to which some of
charioteer, Coeranus (vii. 165,'xvii. 610). He them referred, must have been composed about'the
offered to accompany Diomedes on his exploring middle of the fifth century. For a considerable
expedition into the Trojan camp; but when Dio- time it seemed impossible to determine the author,
medes chose Odysseus for his companion, Meriones no name appearing'on the parchment; but upon
gave to the latter his bow, quiver, sword, and comparing the preface to the principal piece with.
famous helmet (x. 662, &c.). He and Ajax pro- the inscription just mentioned, some expressions in
tected the body of Patroclus (xvii. 669); and at the former were found to be so completely an echo
the funeral games of Patroclus he won the fourth of the words in the latter, that it became almost
prize in. the chariot-race, in shooting with the bow certain that Merobaudes must be the person sought,
the first, and in throwing the javelin the second and this conclusion was confirmed. by a passage in
(xxiii. 351, 528, 614, 860, &c.). Later traditions Sidonius Apollinaris, which contains an allusion to
state that on his way homeward he was thrown on this very statue. (Carem. ix. Ad Felicem, 278the coast of Sicily, where he was received by the 302, comp. the note of Sirmond.) The fragments
Cretans who had settled there (Diod. iv. 79); thus recovered are miserably mutilated. The pages
whereas, according to others, he returned safely to preserved do not follow each other in regular order;
Crete, and was buried and worshipped as a hero, the initial or the final words in most of the larger
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