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

890 MAECENAS. MAECENAS.
entreaties of Sisyganibis, the mother of Dareius, a totally in the dark both as to the date and place of
niece of whom he had married. (Curt. v. 3; Diod. his birth, and the manner of his education. It is
xvii. 67.) most probable, however, that he was born some
MADYAS. [IDANTHYPRSUS.] time between B. C. 73 and 63; and we learn from
MAEANDRUS (Mafavapos), a son of Oceanus Horace (Carm. iv. 1]) that his birth-day was the
and Tethys, and the god of the winding river 13th of April. His family, though belonging only
Maeander in Phrygia. He was the father of to the equestrian order, was of high antiquity and
Cyanea and Canaus, who is hence called Maean- honour, and traced its descent from the Lucumones
drius. (Hes. Theog. 339; Ov. Met. ix. 450, of Etruria. The scholiast on Horace (Carm. i. 1)
473.) [L. S.] informs us that he numbered Porsena among his
MAEA'NDRIUS (MacnYp8os), secretary to ancestors; and his authority is in some measure
Polycrates, tyrant of Samos, was sent by his mas- confirmed by a fragment of one of Augustus' letters
ter to Sardis to see whether the promises of Oroetes, to Maecenas, preserved by Macrobius (Sat. ii. 4),
the satrap, might safely be trusted, and was so far in which he is addressed as " berylle Porsenae."
deceived as to bring back a favourable report, in His paternal ancestors [CILNII] are mentioned by
consequence of which Polycrates passed over to Livy (x. 3, 5) as having attained to so high a pitch
Asia Minor, leaving Maeandrius in Samos as re- of power and wealth at Arretium about the middle
gent, and, having placed himself in the power of of the fifth century of Rome, as to excite the
Oroetes, was put to death, in B. C. 522. On re- jealousy and hatred of their fellow-citizens, who
ceiving intelligence of this event, Maeandrius came rose against and expelled them; and it was not
forward with a speech, reported by Herodotus with without considerable difficulty that they were at
the niost amusing nalvete, in which he expressed length restored to their country, through the interhis extreme dislike of arbitrary power, and offered ference of the Romans. The maternal branch of
to lay it down for certain valuable considerations. the family was likewise of Etruscan origin, and it
But the terms of the proposed bargain being some- was from them that the name of Maecenas was dewhat bluntly rejected, and a hint being given at rived, it being customary among the Etruscans to
the same time, by one Telesarchus, of the necessity assume the mother's as well as the father's name.
of an inquiry into the expenditure of the money (MUiller, Etrusker, ii. p. 404.) It is in allusion to
which had passed through his hands, Maeandrius this circumstance that Horace (Sat. i. 6. 3) menthought he could not do better than keep the ty- tions both his avus maternus atque paternus as
ranny, and he therefore threw into chains his prin- having been distinguished by commanding nucipal opponents, whom, during an illness with merous legions; a passage, by the way, from which
which he was attacked, his brother Lycaretus put we are not to infer that the ancestors of Maecenas
to death. When a Persian force under Otanes had ever led the Roman legions. Their name does
invaded Samos, to place Syloson, brother of Poly- not appear in the Fasti Consulares; and it is manicrates, in the government, Maeandrius capitulated; fest, from several passages of Latin authors, that
but he encouraged his crazy brother, CHARILAUS, the word legio is not always restricted to a Roman
in his design of murdering the chief Persians, legion. (See Liv. x. 5; Sall. Cat. 53, &c.) With
while he himself made his escape to Sparta, where respect to the etymology of the name M~~aecenas,
he endeavoured to tempt Cleomenes I. and others, authors are at variance. We sometimes find it
by bribes, to aid him in recovering his power; spelt Ml~ecaenas, sometimes Mecoenas; but it seems
whereupon, by the advice of the king, the Ephori to be now agreed that Maecenas is right. As to
banished him out of the Peloponnesus. (Herod. its derivation, several fanciful theories have been
iii. 123, 140 —148; Plut. Ap. Lac. cleom. 16.) started. It seems most probable, as Varro tells us
Aelian says that the Persian war arose from the (L. L. viii. 84, ed. Miiller), that it was taken from
difference between Maeandrius and the Athenians; some place; and which may possibly be that menbut we hear of no such quarrel, and the attempted tioned by Pliny (H. N. xiv. 8) as producing an
explanation of Perizonius ispure conjecture. (Ael. inland sort of wines called the vina Maecenatiana.
V. H. xii. 53; Perizon. ad loc.) [E. E.] The names both of Cilnius and Maecenas occur on
MAEA'NDRIUS (Maldva8poos), an historian Etruscan cinerary urns, but always separately, a
(avyypapev's), who wrote a work in which men- fact from which Miiller, in his Etrusker, has intion was made of the Heneti (Strab. xii. p. 552). ferred that the union of the two families did not
He was also the author of a work entitled rapay- take place till a late period. Be that as it may,?yeAsa, which is quoted by Athenaeus (x. p. 454, the first notice that occurs of any of the family, as
b), and which appears to have been a kind of a citizen of Rome, is in Cicero's speech for CluenA B C book (comp. Welcker, in Rlheinisches tlu- tius (~ 56), where a knight named C. Maecenas is
scum for 1833, p. 146). Maeandrius is also re- mentioned among the robora populi Romani, and
ferred to by Macrobius (Sat. i. 17). We learn as having been instrumental in putting down the
from an inscription, which Blickh places between conspiracy of the tribune, M. Livius Drusus, B. c.
Olymp. 140 and 155, that this writer was a native 91. This person has been generally considered the
of Miletus (Bickh, Coep. Inscr. n. 2905, vol. ii. father of the subject of this memoir; but Frandsen,
p. 573). It has been conjectured with considerable in his life of Maecenas, thinks, and perhaps with
probability, that this Maeandrius may be the same more probability, that it was his grandfather.
as the Leandrius or Leander of Miletus, who was About the same period we also find a Maecenas
also an historian, and who is mentioned by several mentioned by Sallust, in the fragments of his
ancient writers. [LEANDER.] history (Lib. iii.) as a scribe.
MAECE'NAS, C. CI'LNIUS. Of the life of Although it is unknown where Maecenas reMaecenas we must be content to glean what scat- ceived his education, it must doubtless have been
tered notices we can from the poets and historians a careful one. We learn from Horace that he was
of Rome, since it does not appear to have been versed both in Greek and Roman literature; and
formally recorded by any ancient author. ~ We are his taste for literary pursuits was shown, not only