Mile´sian Fables (Milesiæ Fabulæ), very wanton and ludicrous tales. Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton (Lord Lytton) published six of the Lost Tales of Milētus in rhymeless verse. He pretends he borrowed them from the scattered remnants preserved by Apollodo´rus and Conon, contained in the pages of Pausa´nias and Athenæus, or dispersed throughout the Scholiasts. The Milesian tales were, for the most part, in prose; but Ovid tells us that Aristi´dês rendered some of them into verse, and Sisenna into Latin.
Junxit Aristides Milesia carmina secum
Pulsus Aristides nec tamen urba sua est.
The original tales by Antonius Diog´enês are described by Photius. It appears that they were great favorites with the luxurious Sybarites. A compilation was made by Aristīdês, by whom (according to Ovid) some were versified also. The Latin translation by Sisenna was made about the time of the civil wars of Ma´rius and Sylla. Parthen´ius Nice´nus, who taught Virgil Greek, borrowed thirty-six of the tales, which he dedicated to Cornelius Gallus, and entitled Erôtikôn Pathêmatôn (“love stories”).
Milesia Crimina, amatory offences. Venus was worshipped at Milētus, and hence the loose amatory tales of Antonius Diogenês were entitled Milesiæ Fabulæ.
Mile´sians, the “ancient” Irish. The legend is that Ireland was once peopled by the Fir-bolg or Belgæ from Britain, who were subdued by Milesians from Asia Minor, called the Gaels of Ireland.
Miles (Throckmorton), harum-scarum, brave, indiscreet, over-generous hero of Constance Cary Harrison’s story, Flower de Hundred (1890).
Milford (Colonel), a friend of Sir Geoffrey Peveril.—Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II.).
Milford (Jack), a natural son of Widow Warren’s late husband. He was the crony of Harry Dornton, with whom he ran “the road to ruin.” Jack had a fortune left him, but he soon scattered it by his extravagant living, and was imprisoned for debt. Harry then promised to marry Widow Warren if she would advance him £6,000 to pay off his friend’s debts with. When Harry’s father heard of this bargain, he was so moved that he advanced the money himself; and Harry, being set free from his bargain, married the widow’s daughter instead of the widow. Thus all were rescued from “the road to ruin.”—Holcroft, The Road to Ruin (1792).
Milinowski, a portly, imposing American widow, who, after twenty years spent under the marital rule of a Prussian army officer, “takes kindly to the prose of life.” She is the exemplary and not unkindly chaperone of Miss Caroline Lester, heroine of Charlotte Dunning’s book Upon a Cast (1885).
Milk-Pail (The), which was to gain a fortune, (See [Perrette].)