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

900 MAGNENTIUS.'MAGNES.
MA'GIUS CAECILIA'NUS. [CAECILIANUS.] sovereigi, not one trait of humanity gave indicationi
MAGNA MATER. [RHEA.] that the Christianity which he professed had ever
MAGNE'NTIUS, Roman emperor in the West, touched his heart. The power which he obtained
A. D. 350-353.- FLAVIUS POPILIUS MAGNEN- by treachery and murder he maintained by extorTIUS, according to the accounts preserved by Victor tion and cruelty, rendered, if possible, more odious
and Zosimus, belonged to one of those German by a hypocritical assumption of good-natured
families who were transported across the Rhine, frankness. (Julian. Orat. i. ii.; Liban. Orat. x.
and established in Gaul, about the end of the third Amm. Marc. xiv. 5; Aurel. Vict. de Caes. 41, 42,
century; according to the statement of Julian, Epit. 41, 42; Eutrop. x. 6, 7; Zosim. ii. 41-54;
which is not irreconcilable with the former, he was Zonar. xiii. 5-9; Socrat. HI. E. ii. 32; Sozomen,
a captive taken in war by Constantius- Chlorus, or H. E. iv. 7.) [W. R.]
Constantine. Under the latter he served with MAGNES (May,Vs). 1. A son of Aeolus and
reputation in many wars, rose eventually to the Enarete, became the father of Polydectes and
dignity of count, and was entrusted by Constans Dictys by a Naiad. (Apollod. i. 7. ~ 3, 9. ~ 6, i.
with the command of the famous Jovian and Her- 3. ~ 3.) The scholiast of Euripides (Phoen. 1760)
culian battalions who had replaced the ancient calls his wife Philodice, and his sons Eurynomus
praetoriafn guards when the empire was remodelled and Eioneus; but Eustathius (ad Homn. p. 338)
by Diocletian. His ambition was probably first calls his wife Meliboea, and mentions one son
roused by perceiving the frailty of the tenure under Alector, and adds that he called the town of Me'
which the weak and indolent prince whom he liboea, at the foot of mount Pelion, after his wife,
served held polver; and having associated himself and the country of Magnesia after his own name.
with Marcellinus, chancellor of the imperial ex- 2. A son of Argos and Perimele, and father of
chequer (comes sacrarumn largitionum), a plot was Hymenaeus; from him also a portion of Thessaly
deliberately contrived and carefully matured. A derived its: name Magnesia. (Anton. Lib. 23.)
great feast was given by Marcellinus at Autun on 3. A son of Zeus and Tllyia, and brother of
the 18th of January, A. D. 350, ostensibly to cele- Macedon. (Steph. Byz. s. v. MaKcesovia, with the
brate the birthday of his son, to which the chief commentators.) [L. S.]
officers of the army and the most distinguished MAGNES (Mday/71s), one of the most imcivilians of the court were invited. When the portant of the earlier Athenian comic poets of the
night was far spent, Magnentius, who had quitted old comedy, was a native of the demus of Icaria
the apartment under some pretext, suddenly re- or Icarius, in Attica. (Suid. s. v.) He is menappeared clad in royal robes, and was instantly tioned by Aristotle (Poi't. 3) in such a manner as
saluted as Augustus by the conspirators, whose to imply that he was contemporary, or nearly so,
acclamations were caught up and echoed almost with Chionides. An anonymous writer on comedy
unconsciously by the remainder of the guests. (p. 28) places him intermediate between EpicharThe emissaries despatched' to murder Constans mus and Cratinus. Suidas states that he was conhaving succeeded in accomplishing their purpose temporary, as a young man, with Epicharmus in
[CoNsTANS, p. 828], the troops no longer hesitated his old age. His recent death, at an advanced
to follow their leaders, the peaceful portion of the age, is referred to in the Knights of Aristophanes
population did not resist the example of the sol- (524), which was written in B. C. 423. From
diery, and thus the authority of the usurper was these statements it may be inferred that he fioualmost instantly acknowledged throughout Gaul, rished about 01. 80, B. C. 460, and onwards. The
and quickly extended over all the Western pro- grammarian Diomedes is evidently quite wrong in
virces, except Illyria, where Vetranio, the imperial joining him with Susarion and Myllus (iii. p. 486).
general [VETRANIO], had himself assumed the The most important testimony respecting Magnes
purple. Intelligence of these events was quickly is the passage of the Knights just referred to, in
conveyed to Constantius, who hurried from the which Aristophanes upbraids the Athenians for
ifrontier of Persia to vindicate the honour of his their inconstancy towards the poet, who had been
house, by crushing this double rebellion. The extremely popular, but lived to find himself out of
events which followed-the fruitless attempts of fashion (Tv. 520-525):the'two pretenders to negotiate a peace-the submission of Vetranio at Sardica —the distress of TO
Constantius in Pannonia, which induced him in his, KaTlouraos,
turn, but fruitlessly, to make overtures to his oppo- s ea
nent-the defeat of Magnentius at the sanguinary p
~doas 8' vlAv dpwvas Ifels cal a'A0 Kal arTrpVbattle of Mursa on the Drave, in the autumn ofl Aw e
A. D. 351, followed by the loss of Italy, Sicily, K v evos pa
Africa, and Spain-his second defeat in the passes l l
of the Cottian Alps-the defection of Gaul —and O elo s
his death by his own hands about the middle of Oun 1p U
August, A. D. 353, are fully detailed in other
articles. [CONSTANTIUS, p. 847; DECENTIUS, ESEAis 7rpe@rvIls we,'rm fre crcwxrrelv cureDESIDERIUS, NEPOTIANUS, VETRANIO.] AsE'07.
Magnentius was a man of commanding stature These lines, taken in connexion with the stateand great bodily strength, was well educated, and ments of ancient writers, and the extant titles of
accomplished, fond of literature, an animated and the plays of Magnes, give us a fair notion of his
impressive speaker, a bold soldier, and a skilful style. The allusions in the third and fourth lines
-general. But, however striking his physical and are said by a scholiast to be to his plays entitled
intellectual advantages, however conspicuous his Bp6CiLT.8ES, "OpvM0es, AURol l1ves, and Bcarpaxo&.
merits when in a subordinate station, not one spark It is evident, therefore, that his plays contained a
of virtue relieved the blackness of his career as a large portion of the mimetic element, in the exhibi