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

MAECILIA GENS. MAELIUS. 89.
sat on the tribunal, condemning numbers to deathl, 1. L. MAECILIUS, one of those tribunes of the
Maecenas, who was among the bystanders, and plebs who were chosen for the first time in the
could not approach Caesar by reason of the crowd, comitia tributa, B. C. 471. (Liv. ii. 58.)
wrote upon his tablets, " Rise, hangman!" (Surge 2. SP. MAECILIUS, chosen for the fourth time
tandenm carnifew/), and threw them into Caesar's tribune of the plebs, B. C. 416. (Liv. iv. 48.)
lap, who immediately left thejudgment-seat (comp. In the time of Augustus we find the name of
Dion Cass. Iv. 7). M. Maecilius'ullus, a triumvir of the mint, on
Maecenas appears to have been a constant vale- many coins (Eckhel, vol. v. p. 240); and at length
tudinarian. If Pliny's statement (vii. 51 ) is to be not long before the downfall of the Roman empire
taken literally, he laboured under a continual fever. in the west a Maecilius obtained the imperial
According to the same author he was sleepless dignity. [AvITus, MAECILIUS.]
during the last three years of his life; and Seneca MAECIUS, QUINTUS (Ko'6vTos Ma[KCos), the
tells us (de Provid. iii. 9) that he endeavoured to author of twelve epigrams in the Greek Anthology,
procure that sweet and indispensable refreshment, which are among the best in the collection, was
by listening to the sound of distant symphonies. evidently, from his name, a Roman; but nothing
We may infer from Horace (Carin. ii. 17) that he further is known of him. (Brunck. Anal. vol. ii.
was rather hypochondriacal. He died in the con- p. 236, vol. iii. p. 332; Jacobs, A4nth. Graec. vol.
sulate of Gallus and Censorinus, B.C. 8 (Dion ii. p. 220, vol. xiii. pp. 913, 914; Fabric. Bibl.
Cass. lv. 7), and was buried on the Esquiline. He Graec. vol. iv. p. 481.) [P. S.]
left no children, and thus by his death his ancient fa- MAE'LIA GENS, the richest plebeian gens of
mily became extinct. He bequeathed his property to the equestrian order, shortly after the time of the
Augustus, and we find that Tiberius afterwards re- decemvirate. The name does not occur after the
sided in his house (Suet. Tib. 15). Though the Samnite wars. Of this gens CAPITOLINUS is the
emperor treated Maecenas with coldness during the only cognomen mentioned.
latter years of his life, he sincerely lamented his MAE'LIUS. 1. SP. MAELIUS, the richest
death, and seems to have sometimes felt the want'of the plebeian knights, employed his fortune in
of so able, so honest, and so faithful a counsellor. buying up corn in Etruria in the great famine at
(Dion Cass. liv. 9, Iv. 7; Senec. de Ben. vi.. 32.) Rome in B. C. 440. This corn he sold to the poor
The life of Maecenas has been written in Latin at a small. price, or distributed it gratuitously.
by John Henry Meibom, in a thin quarto, entitled Such liberality gained him the favour of the pleLiber singularis de C. C(ilnii Maecenatis Vita, Mloi- beians, but at the same time exposed him to the
bus, et Rebus Gestis, Leyden, 1653. It contains at hatred of the ruling class. Accordingly, in the;
the end the elegies ascribed to Pedo Albinovanus, following year, B. c. 439, soon after the consuls had
and is a learned and useful work, though the entered upon their office, L. Minucius Augurinus,
author has taken an extravagant view of his hero's who had been appointed praefectus annonae [Auvirtues, and, according to the fashion of those days, GURINUS, No. 5], revealed to the senate a con-'
has been rather too liberal of the contents of his spiracy which Maelius was said to have formed for
commonplace book. In Italian there is a life by the purpose of seizing the kingly power. He deCenni, Rome 1684; by Dini, Venice 1704; and clared that the tribunes had been bribed by Maeby Sante Viola, Rome, 1816; in German, by lius, that secret assemblies had been held in his
Bennemann, Leipzig, 1744; by Dr. Albert Lion house, and that arms? had been collected there.
(Maecenatiana), Giittingen, 1824; and by Frand- Thereupon the aged Quintius Cincinnatus was imsen, Altona, 1843; which last is by far the best mediately appointed dictator, and C. Servilius
life of Maecenas. In French there is a life of Ahala, the master of-the horse. During the night'
Maecenas by the Abbe Richer, Paris, 1746. The the capitol and other strong places were garrisoned,
only life in English is by Dr. Ralph Schomberg, and in the morning the dictator appeared in the
London, 1766, 12mo. It is a mere compilation forum with an armed force. Maelius was summoned
from Meibom and Richer, and shows no critical to appear before his tribunal; but as he saw the
discrimination. [T. D.] fate which awaited him, he refused to go, seized a
MA'ECIA GENS, plebeian. Only one person butcher's knife to ward off the officer (apparitor),
of this gens is mentioned under the republic, Sp. who was preparing to drag him along, and took
Maecins Tarpa, a contemporary of Cicero [TARPA]; refuge among the crowd. Straightway Ahala,
but under the empire the Maecii became more dis- with an armed band of patrician youths, rushed
tinguished though they are rarely mentioned by into the crowd, and slew Maelius. His property
ancient writers. Thus we find on coins mention was confiscated, and his house pulled down; its
made of a M. Maecius Rufus, who was proconsul vacant site, which was called the Aequimaeliuns,
of Bithynia in the reign of Vespasian; in inscrip- continued to subsequent ages a memorial of his
tions (Gruter, p. 49. 3) of a M. Maecius Rufus fate. Niebuhr says that it lay at the foot of the
who was consul with L. Turpilius Dexter, though capitol, not far from the prison.
the date of their consulship is uncertain; and in Later ages, following the traditions of the Quin —
the consular Fasti of a M. Maecius Memmius tian and Servilian houses, fully believed the story
Furius Placidus, who was consul A. D. 343, with of Maelius's conspiracy. Thus Cicero speaks of
Fl. Pisidius Romulus. him as " omnibus exosus" (de Armic. 8), and reMAECIA'NUS, the son of Avidius Cassius, peatedly praises the glorious deed of Ahala. But
was, at the breaking out of the rebellion against his guilt is very doubtful, and his death was clearly
M. Aurelius, entrusted by his father with the com- an act of murder, since the dictator himself had no
mand of Alexandria, and was soon afterwards slain right to put him to death, but only to bring him to
by his own soldiers. (Capitolin. l/. Aurel. 25.) trial before the comitia centuriata. The factthat'he
[AVIDIUS CAssIvs.] [W. R.] was'thus violently and illegally slain, is a strong
MAECI'LIA GENS, plebeian. Only two proof that no crime could be proved against him.
members of it are mentioned under tme republic. Niebuhr thinks it not improbable that the real de