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

1090 MINERVA. MINIO.
part of the coast, and attacked them from the land of days does not seem to have been accidental, for
in the rear. Mindarus hereupon disembarked to Servius (ad Virg. Georg. i. 277) informs us that
meet him, but was slain in the battle, and the Athe- the number 5 was sacred to Minerva. (See Diet.
nians gained a complete victory, B.c. 410. (Thuc. of Ant. s. v. Quinquatrus.) The most ancient
viii. 85, 99-105, 107, 108; Xen. Hell. i. 1. ~~ temple of Minerva at Rome was probably that on
1, 3-5, 8-18; Plut. Ale. 27, 28; Diod. xiii. the Capitol; another existed on the Aventine (P.
39, 45, 49-51.) [HIPPOCRATES. No. 6.] [E.E.] Vict. Reg. Urb. viii.; Ov. Fast. vi. 728); and she
MI'NDIUS MARCELLUS. [MARCELLUS.] had a chapel at the foot of the Caelian hill, where
MINERVAj one of the great Roman divinities, shebore the surname of Capta. (Ov. Fast. iii. 337.)
whose name seems to be of the same root as mens, She also had the surname of Nautia, which was
whence monere and priomenervare (Fest. p. 205, ed. believed to have originated in the following manner.
Miiller). She is accordingly the thinking, calcu- Diomedes had carried the Palladium from Troy;
lating, and inventive power personified. Varro and as he found that it availed him nothing in his
(ap. Aug. de Civ. Dei, vii. 28) therefore considered misfortunes, and as the oracle commanded him to
her as the impersonation of all ideas, or as the plan restore it to the Trojans, he wanted to deliver it
of the universe, while Jupiter, according to him, up to Aeneas on his wanderings through Calabria.
is the creator, and Juno the representative of When he came to the Trojans, he found Aeneas
matter. Minerva was the third in the number of engaged in offering up a sacrifice, and Nantes rethe Capitoline divinities, and sometimes is said to ceived the Palladium instead of Aeneas. The
have wielded the thunderbolts of Jupiter, her goddess (Minerva) bestowed many favours upoJn
father. Tarquin, the son of Demaratus, was be- him, instructed him in various arts, and chose him
lieved to have united the three divinities in one for her servant. The family of the Nautii aftercommon temple, and hence, when repasts were pre- wards retained the exclusive knowledge of the
pared for the gods, these three always went together manner in which Minerva Nautia was to be wor(August. de Civ. Dei, iv. 10; Val. Max. ii. 1. ~ 2). shipped. Her mysterious image was preserved in
As Minerva was a virgin divinity, and her father the most secret part of the temple of Vesta, and
the supreme god, the Romans easily identified her regarded as one of the safeguards of the state.
with the Greek Athena, and accordingly all the (Dionys. i. 69; Virg. Aen. v. 704; Serv. ad Aen.
attributes -of Athena were gradually transferred to ii. 166, iii. 407; Lucan. i. 598; comp. Hartung,
the Roman Minerva. But We shall here confine Die Relig. der Rimer, vol. ii. p. 78, &c.) [L. S.]
ourselves to those which were peculiar to the MINERVI'NA,themotherof CRISPUS CAESAR,
Roman goddess, as far as they can be ascertained. is usually termed by historians the first wife of
As she was a maiden goddess her sacrifices con- Constantine the Great. However,Victor (Epit. 41)
sisted of calves which had not borne the yoke or and Zosimus (ii. 20), both of whom mention her
felt the sting (Fulgentius, p. 561, ed. Merc.; Arnob. name, state expressly that she was his concubine,
iv. 16, vii. 22). She is said to have invented and their account is confirmed by Zonaras (xiii. 2).
numbers, and it is added that the law respecting To this direct testimony we can oppose nothing,
the driving in of the annual nail was for this reason except the improbability that Constantine should
attached to the temple of Minerva (Liv. vii. 3); have marked out an illegitimate son as his sucbut it is generally well attested that she was wor- cessor. (Tillemont, Hist. des Empereurs, vol.
shipped as the patroness of all the arts and trades, iv. art. iv. p. 84, and Notes sur Constantin, note
for at her festival she Was particularly invoked by v.). [VW. R.]
all those who desired to distinguish themselves in MINI'CIA GENS, came originally from Brixia
any art or craft, such as painting, poetry, the art of (Brescia), in Cisalpine Gaul. Brixia was a Roman
teaching, medicine, dyeing, spinning, weaving, and colony, but in what year it became one is unthe like. (Ov. Fast. iii. 809, &c.; August. 1. c. known. (Plin. H. N. iii. 1] 9.) The Minicii occur
vii. 16.) only under the empire. There was a C. Minicius
This character of the goddess may be perceived Fundanus, one of the consules suffecti in A. D. 51;
also from the proverbs "to do a thing pingui Mi- and another C. Minicius, also one of the consules
nerva," i. e. to do a thing in an awkward or clumsy suffecti in A. D. 103. For this gens see Labus,
manner; and sus Minervam, of a stupid person Epigrappha nuovamente uscita dalle escavazioni
who presumed to set right -an intelligent one. Bresciana, Milan, 1830. [W. B. D.]
Minerva, however, was the patroness, not only of MINI'DIUS, L., was a Roman merchant or
females, on whom she conferred skill in sewing, banker, established at Elis in B. C. 46, with whose
spinning, weaving, &c., but she also guided men in heirs Cicero had some pecuniary transactions. He
the dangers of war, where victory is gained by was brother of L. Mescinius Rufus, quaestor in
cunning, prudence, courage, and perseverance. Achaia [RuFus], and married an Oppia. (Cic. ad
Hence she was represented with a helmet, shield, Fam. xiii. 26, 28.) [W. B. D.]
and a coat of mail;- and the booty made in war MINI'DIUS or MI'NDIUS, M., brother and
was frequently dedicated to her. (Liv. xlv. 33; heir of L. Minidius, and also a Roman merchant.
Virg. Aen. ii. 615.) Minerva was further believed Cicero was engaged in a law-suit with him. (Cic.
to be the inventor of musical instruments, especially ad Fam. v. 20, xiii. 26,) [W. B. D.]
wind instruments, the use of which was very im- MI'NIO. I. Was the confidential friend and
portant in religious worship, and which were ac- counsellor of Antiochus the Great, and his reprecordingly subjected to a sort of purification every sentative at the conference with the Roman envoys
year on the last day of'the festival of Minerva. at Ephesus in B. c. 193. Minio commanded a
This festival lasted five days, from the 19th to the portion of Antiochus' centre at the battle of Mag23d of March, and was called Quinquatrus, because nesia in B. c. 190. (Liv. xxxv. 15, 16, xxxvii. 40,
it began on the fifth day after the ides of the. 42.):month. (Fest. pp. 149, 257, ed. Miiller; Varro, 2. Q. MYNNIO (Mvlmko), was a native of
De L. L. vi. 14; Ov. Fast. iii. 849.) This number Smyrna, who, conspiring against Mithridates VI.