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

MAGNUS, MAGN US'. 901'tion of which, as the age at which he wrote, and of the charge was never ascertained, for all who
the testimony of the grammarian, Diomedes (iii. were impeached, or who were open to the most'p. 486), concur in establishing, there was a great remote suspicion, were instantly put to death withdeal of coarse buffoonery. The concluding words out trial or investigation, without being allowed to
of Aristophanes, o'Tr ov aUorc7Teirsv drwekAqpO71, confess their guilt, or- to assert their innocence.
especially as they occur in a sort of apologetic ad- The statement that the whole senate were parties.dress by that poet, who, through his whole career, to the scheme is, considering the nature and cir-prided himself on his less frequent indulgence in curmstances of the case, an extravagant hyperbole,
the extravagant jests in which other comedians contradicted by the very details of the narrative,
were addicted, gave some countenance to the sup- although doubtless from the well-known hatred
position that Magnes had attempted a similar re- entertained by that body towards the sanguinary
striction upon his comic licence during the latter ~tyrant, they would have rejoiced in any event
period of his life, and had suffered, as Aristophanes which might have caused his destruction. (Herohimself was always exposed to suffer, for not pan- dian. vii. 2; Capitolin. Maximin. duo, 10.) [W.R.]
dering sufficiently to the taste of his audience. MAGNUS (Mdyvos), the name of several phyThe words may, however, refer simply to the de- sicians, whom it is difficult to distinguish with
dine of his comic powers. certainty. (See Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. xiii. p.
According to Suidas and Eudocia, Magnes ex- 313, ed. vet.; C. G. Kuhn, Additam. ad Elench.
hibited nine plays, and gained two victories, a Medicor. Vet. d J. 4. Fabricio exhibit.; Guidot,
statement obviously inconsistent with the second Notes to Theophilus, De Urin.; Haller, Bibl. Med.
line of the above extract from Aristophanes. The Pract. vol. iv. p. 203.)
anonymous writer (1. c.) assigns to him eleven vic- 1. A native of Antiochia Mygdonica (called
tories, and states that none of his dramas were more frequently Nisibis), in Mesopotamia, who
preserved, but that nine were falsely ascribed to studied medicine under Zenon, and was a fellowhim. (Comp. Athen. xiv. p. 646, e.) Some of these pupil of Oribasius and Ionicus, in the latter half of
spurious dramas seem to have been founded on the the fourth century after Christ. Eunapius, who
titles, and perhaps on some remains, of his genuine has given a short account of his life (De Fit. Philos.
plays. (Suid. s. v. AvUioowv). p. 1 68, ed. 1568), says that he lectured on medicine
It is worthy of notice that Magnes is the earliest at Alexandria, where he enjoyed a great reputacomic poet of whom we find any victories recorded. tion, though not so much for his practical skill as
(Comp. Aristot. Poet. 5.) for his eloquence and power of argument. He is
Only a few titles of his works are extant. Of probably the person who wrote a work on the
those mentioned by the scholiast on Aristophanes, Urine, which is mentioned by Theophilus (Dle Ug-ri.
the Bapi't8mLes should probably be corrected to praef. and c. 3, 9) and Joannes Actuarius (De Urin.
BapOCLoar; and the play was no doubt a satire on i. 2). If so, he bore the title'Iarpoeo rolmir
certain musicians who were fond of the lyre called (Theoph. 1. c.). He is also probably the physician'barbiton. The Avofl seems to have been an attack mentioned by Philostorgius (Hist. Eccles. viii. 8)
on the voluptuous dances of the Lydians. (Suid. as living at Alexandria in great repute, in the time
s. v. Auvofl; Hesych. s. v. Avaslotv,; Athen. xv. p. of Valentinian and Valens.
690, c; Pollux, vii. 188.) The Trvis took its 2. A native of Ephesus, in Lydia, from the
name from a sort of gall fly which infested the fig; second book of whose letters (" Epistolae") Caelius
-and both it and the BidpaXot belong to a class of Aurelianus quotes (De Mos-b. Acut. iii. 14. p. 225)'titles common enough with the Attic comedians; a short passage, relating to hydrophobia. He is
but we have no indication of their contents. There perhaps the same physician who is elsewhere
are a few other titles, namely, ALo'vvaor, of which'quoted by Caelius Aurelianus (De Morb. Acut. ii.
there were two editions, and which should perhaps 10, p. 96), and said to have belonged to the medical
be assigned to Crates (Athen. ix. p. 367, f., xiv. sect of the Methodici, and to have lived before
p. 646, e.; Poll. vi. 79), rILTaris, or uTvraKc[8ls Agathinus, and therefore in the first century after
(Suid. vol. ii. p. 640; Phot. s. v. svv 38~; the true Christ.
form of this title is quite uncertain), nlocarpma 3. A native of Philadelphia in Lydia, whose
~(Schol. ad Plat. p. 336, Bekker), and raXewouvo- medical formulae are quoted by the younger:,axia, a title which does not well agree with what Andromachus, and who must therefore have lived:we know of the character of the plays of Magnes. in or before the first century after Christ. (Galen,
(Eudoc. p. 302.)- The extant fragments of Magnes De Compos. Medicam. sec.'Locos, vii. 4, vol. xiii.
scarcely exceed half a dozen lines. (Meineke, Frag. p. 80.) He is also mentioned elsewhere in Galen's
Com. Graec. vol. i. pp. 29-35, vol. ii.. pp. 9 —11; works (vol. xiii. pp. 296, 829).
Fabric. Bibl. Gr-aec. vol. ii. p. 453; Bode, Gesch. d. 4. A native of Tarsus in Cilicia, who must'Hellen.L Dichltk. vol. iii. Pt. 2, p. 31.)'[P. S.] have lived in or before the beginning of the second
MAGNUS, a Roman consular, accused of having century after Christ, as one of his medical formulae,organized an extensive plot against Maximinus I., is quoted by Asclepiades Pharmacion. (Galen,
in which, according to Herodian, he was supported De Cosnpos. Medicacm. sec. Locos, ix. 7, vol. xiii.
by a great number of centurions, and the whole p. 313.)
body of the senate. The emperor, soon after his MAGNUS KAvLKo6s, and MAGNUS o IlEpSe&Uaccession (A. D. 235), was about to commence a TrIs, whose prescriptions are mentioned by Galen
campaign against the Germans; and having thrown (De Compos. Ml'edicanm. sec. Locos, v. 3, vol. xii. pp.
a bridge over the Rhine, for the purpose of trans- 829, 844), are perhaps the same person; perhaps
porting his troops, it was proposed by the con- also they are the same as either No. 3, or No. 4.
spirators to'break down the structure as soon as Magnus " Sophista," whose medicalformulae are
the prince should have passed, and thus leave him quoted by Nicolaus Myrepsus (De Comepos. MAIedion the further bank, with a handful of men, at the cam. i. 305, ii. 5, xxxiv. 17), may also be the,mercy of the barbarians, The truth or falsehood same person.
3M 3