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

912 NIAMERTUS. MAMILIUS.
city of Gaul, probably Treves, and is addressed' to 4. The hymn De Passione Domnini, bieginning
Maximianus Herculius, at that time actively en- with the words Pange lingua gloriosi praeliumn cergaged in preparations against -Carausius. It must taminis, in the Roman breviary, is ascribed by.
be observed that the name Mamertinus is altogether some writers to Mamertus, and by others to Venanwanting in several of the best MSS., and it is tius Fortunatus.
doubtful whether it appears in any of the more 5. The poems Carmen Pa.shale, Laus C~zristi,
ancient. and Miracula Cliristi, which are printed among the
The second piece in the collection, which stands works of the great poet Claudian, are by some
in printed editions as Claudii Mamertini Panegy- writers likewise attributed to this Claudian Maricus Genethliacus lfaximiano Augusto dictus, is in mertus, but were perhaps written by neither of
honour of the birthday of the emperor, and falls them. (Sidon. Apoll. iv. 2, 3, 11, v. 2; Gennad.
between the first of April, A. D. 291, and the first De Viris Illustr. 83; Trithem. De Script. Eccles.
of March A. D. 292 (Clinton, Fasti Rom. ad ann. 178; Fabric. Biblioth. Med. et Infim. Lat. s. v.
291). In this case it is admitted that none Claudianus; B;ihr, Gescleichte d. Rmnisch. Liteof the more ancient MSS. present us with the ratur, Supplement-Band. i. ~ 33, ii. ~ 169.)
name of Mamertinus, but usually state that it is MAMI'LIA GENS, plebeian, was originally
by the same author as the preceding, a conclusion one of the most distinguished families in Tusculumn,
fully warranted by the general tone, as well as by and indeed in the whole of Latium. It is first
some peculiarities of-expression, and indeed there mentioned in the time of the Tarquins; and it
seems to be in c. 5 a distinct allusion to the former was to a member of this family, Octavius Madiscourse. milius, that Tarquinius Superbus betrothed his.
The tenth piece in the collection is inscribed, daughter. The Mamilii traced their name and
Mamertini pro Consulatu Gratiarum Actio Juliano origin to the mythical Mamilia, the daughter of
Augusto, belongs to A. D. 362, and was delivered Telegonus, who was regarded as the founder of
at Constantinople, soon after the accession of Julian, Tusculum, and was the reputed son of Ulysses and
by Claudius Mamertinus, consul for the year, who the goddess Circe. (Liv. i. 49; Dionys. iv. 45;
had previously held the offices of praefect of the Festus, p. 130, ed. Miiller.) In B. C. 458 the
Aerarium atd praefect of Illyricum, manifestly a Roman citizenship was given to L. Mamilius on
different person from the Claudius Mamertinus of account of his marching unsummoned two years
the first two orations, if we admit the 6xistence of before to the assistance of the city when it was atan individual bearing that appellation as their tacked by Herdonius. (Liv. iii. 18, 29.) But
author. (See the dissertations prefixed to the although the Mamilii had obtained the Roman
edition of the Panegyrici Veteres, by Schwarzius, franchise, it was some time before any of the mem4to. Venet. 1728; the Censura XII. Panegyri- bers of the house obtained any of the higher-offices
corum Veterum, in the 6th volume-of the Opuscula of the state: the first who received the consulship
Academica of Heyne; and the other authorities was L. Mamilius Vitulus, in B. c. 265, the year
cited under DREPANIUS.) [W. R.] before the commencement of the first Punic war.
MAMERTUS (Mae'ACpros), an ancient surname The gens was divided into three families, LIMEof Ares, which must have arisen after the iden- TANUS, TURRIN US, and VITULUS, of which the
tification of the Italian Mamers with the Greek two latter were the most ancient and the most imAres. (Lycoph. 938, 1410.) [L. S.] portant. Limetanus, however, is the only surname
MAMERTUS, CLAUDIA'NUS ECDI'- which occurs on coins.
DIUS, was a presbyter in the diocese of Vienne, The mythical origin of the Mamilia gens, which
in France, of which his brother was bishop, and has been mentioned above, is evidently referred to
lived in the middle of the fifth century of our era. in the annexed coin. The obverse represents the
He died about the year 470, and his praises are head of Mercury or Hermes, who was the ancestor
celebrated at great length by Sidonius Apollinaris. of Ulysses, and the reverse Ulysses himself, clad
(Epist. iv. 11.) His works are as follow:- in a mean and humble dress, that he might not be
1. De Statu Animae, in three books, against the recognised by the suitors. (Ecklhel, vol. v. pp. 242,
opinions of Faustus Reiensis. [FAUSTUS, P. 142, 243.)
a.] This work was first published by P. Mosellanus, Basil. 1520; afterwards by Grynaeus in his
Orthodoxoyr. p. 124 7; in the Biblioth. PatrumnMa..g
Lugdun. vol. vi. p. 1050, &c., and by Casp. Bar- g
thins, Cygneae, 1655.
2. Epistolae. Besides the letter to Sidonins /
Apollinaris, in which Mamertus dedicates to him
his work De Statu Animae, there is also another
letter to Sidonius, preserved among the epistles of
the latter. (Epist. iii. 2.) Sidonius, in his reply COIN OF THE MAMILIA GENS.
(iii. 3), extols Mamertus and his work in the most MAMILIA NUS, a friend of the younger Pliny,
extraordinary manner. to whom the latter addressed two letters (ix. 16,
3. Carmen contra Poetas Vanos, a poem in hexa- 25), but of whose life we know nothing, except
meter verse, in which the author maintains the that he was engaged in military service when Pliny
superiority of Christian doctrines over heathen wrote to him.
poetry. The versification of this poem is smooth MAMI'LIUS. 1. OCTAVIUS MAMILIUS, of
and flowing, and it bears evidence of its writer Tusculum, called by Livy "longe princeps Latini
having carefully studied some of the best of the nominis," was the person to whom Tarquinius
Roman poets. It is printed in Fabricius, Corp. Superbus gave his daughter, when he was anxious
Post. Chirist. p. 775, &c., and in the Bibliotl7. Pa- to conciliate the Latins. On the expulsion of the
trum efax. Lugdun. vol. vi.- p. 1074. Tarquins from Rome, Superbus took refuge with