Mărătha, a village of Arcadia. Pausanias, bk. 8, ch. 28.
Mărăthon, a village of Attica, 10 miles from Athens, celebrated for the victory which the 10,000 Athenians and 1000 Platæans, under the command of Miltiades, gained over the Persian army, consisting of 100,000 foot and 10,000 horse, or, according to Valerius Maximus, of 300,000, or, as Justin says, of 600,000, under the command of Datis and Artaphernes, on the 28th of Sept. 490, B.C. In this battle, according to Herodotus, the Athenians lost only 192 men, and the Persians 6300. Justin has raised the loss of the Persians in this expedition and in the battle to 200,000 men. To commemorate this immortal victory of their countrymen, the Greeks raised small columns, with the names inscribed on the tombs of the fallen heroes. It was also in the plains of Marathon that Theseus overcame a celebrated bull, which ravaged the neighbouring country. Erigone is called Marathonia virgo, as being born at Marathon. Statius, bk. 5, Sylvæ, poem 3, li. 74.—Cornelius Nepos, Miltiades.—Herodotus, bk. 6, &c.—Justin, bk. 2, ch. 9.—Valerius Maximus, bk. 5, ch. 3.—Plutarch, Parallela minora——A king of Attica, son of Epopeus, who gave his name to a small village there. Pausanias, bk. 2, ch. 1.——A king of Sicyon.
Marăthos, a town of Phœnicia. Mela, bk. 1, ch. 12.
Marcella, a daughter of Octavia the sister of Augustus by Marcellus. She married Agrippa.
Marcellīnus Ammiānus, a celebrated historian who carried arms under Constantius, Julian, and Valens, and wrote a history of Rome from the reign of Domitian, where Suetonius stops, to the emperor Valens. His style is neither elegant nor laboured, but it is greatly valuable for its veracity, and in many of the actions he mentions, the author was nearly concerned. This history was composed at Rome, where Ammianus retired from the noise and troubles of the camp, and does not betray that severity against the christians which other writers have manifested, though the author was warm in favour of paganism, the religion which for a while was seated on the throne. It was divided into 31 books, of which only the 18 last remain, beginning at the death of Magnentius. Ammianus has been liberal in his encomiums upon Julian, whose favours he enjoyed and who so eminently patronised his religion. The negligence with which some facts are sometimes mentioned, has induced many to believe that the history of Ammianus has suffered much from the ravages of time, and that it has descended to us mutilated and imperfect. The best editions of Ammianus are those of Gronovius, folio, and 4to, Leiden, 1693, and of Ernesti, 8vo, Lipscomb, 1773.——An officer under Julian.
Marcellus Marcus Claudius, a famous Roman general, who, after the first Punic war, had the management of an expedition against the Gauls, where he obtained the Spolia opima, by killing with his own hand Viridomarus the king of the enemy. Such success rendered him popular, and soon after he was entrusted to oppose Annibal in Italy. He was the first Roman who obtained some advantage over this celebrated Carthaginian, and showed his countrymen that Annibal was not invincible. The troubles which were raised in Sicily by the Carthaginians at the death of Hieronymus, alarmed the Romans, and Marcellus, in his third consulship, was sent with a powerful force against Syracuse. He attacked it by sea and land, but his operations proved ineffectual, and the invention and industry of a philosopher [See: [Archimedes]] were able to baffle all the efforts, and to destroy all the great and stupendous machines and military engines of the Romans during three successive years. The perseverance of Marcellus at last obtained the victory. The inattention of the inhabitants during their nocturnal celebration of the festivals of Diana, favoured his operations; he forcibly entered the town, and made himself master of it. The conqueror enriched the capital of Italy with the spoils of Syracuse, and when he was accused of rapaciousness, for stripping the conquered city of all its paintings and ornaments, he confessed that he had done it to adorn the public buildings of Rome, and to introduce a taste for the fine arts and elegance of the Greeks among his countrymen. After the conquest of Syracuse, Marcellus was called upon by his country to oppose a second time Annibal. In this campaign he behaved with greater vigour than before; the greatest part of the towns of the Samnites, which had revolted, were recovered by force of arms, and 3000 of the soldiers of Annibal made prisoners. Some time after an engagement with the Carthaginian general proved unfavourable; Marcellus had the disadvantage; but on the morrow a more successful skirmish vindicated his military character, and the honour of the Roman soldiers. Marcellus, however, was not sufficiently vigilant against the snares of his adversary. He imprudently separated himself from his camp, and was killed in an ambuscade in the 60th year of his age, in his fifth consulship, A.U.C. 546. His body was honoured with a magnificent funeral by the conqueror, and his ashes were conveyed in a silver urn to his son. Marcellus claims our commendation for his private as well as public virtues; and the humanity of the general will ever be remembered who, at the surrender of Syracuse, wept at the thought that many were going to be exposed to the avarice and rapaciousness of an incensed soldiery, which the policy of Rome and the laws of war rendered inevitable. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 6, li. 855.—Paterculus, bk. 2, ch. 38.—Plutarch, Lives, &c.——One of his descendants, who bore the same name, signalized himself in the civil wars of Cæsar and Pompey, by his firm attachment to the latter. He was banished by Cæsar, but afterwards recalled at the request of the senate. Cicero undertook his defence in an oration which is still extant.——The grandson of Pompey’s friend rendered himself popular by his universal benevolence and affability. He was son of Marcellus, by Octavia the sister of Augustus. He married Julia, that emperor’s daughter, and was publicly intended as his successor. The suddenness of his death, at the early age of 18, was the cause of much lamentation at Rome, particularly in the family of Augustus, and Virgil procured himself great favours by celebrating the virtues of this amiable prince. See: [Octavia]. Marcellus was buried at the public expense. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 6, li. 883.—Suetonius, Augustus.—Plutarch, Marcellus.—Seneca, de Consolatione ad Marciam.—Paterculus, bk. 2, ch. 93.——The son of the great Marcellus who took Syracuse, was caught in the ambuscade which proved fatal to his father, but he forced his way from the enemy and escaped. He received the ashes of his father from the conqueror. Plutarch, Marcellus.——A man who conspired against Vespasian.——The husband of Octavia the sister of Augustus.——A conqueror of Britain.——An officer under the emperor Julian.——A man put to death by Galba.——A man who gave Cicero information of Catiline’s conspiracy.——A colleague of Cato in the questorship.——A native of Pamphylia, who wrote an heroic poem on physic, divided into 42 books. He lived in the reign of Marcus Aurelius.——A Roman drowned in a storm, &c.
Marcia lex, by Marcius Censorinus. It forbade any man to be invested with the office of censor more than once.
Marcia, the wife of Regulus. When she heard that her husband had been put to death at Carthage in the most excruciating manner, she retorted the punishment, and shut up some Carthaginian prisoners in a barrel, which she had previously filled with sharp nails. The senate was obliged to stop the wantonness of her cruelty. Diodorus, bk. 24.——A favourite of the emperor Commodus, whom he poisoned.——A vestal virgin, punished for her incontinence.——A daughter of Philip, who married Cato the censor. Her husband gave her to his friend Hortensius for the sake of procreating children, and after his death he took her again to his own house.——An ancient name of the island of Rhodes.——A daughter of Cato of Utica.——A stream of water. See: [Martia aqua].
Marciāna, a sister of the emperor Trajan, who, on account of her public and private virtues and her amiable disposition, was declared Augusta and empress by her brother. She died A.D. 113.
Marcianopŏlis, the capital of Lower Mœsia in Greece. It receives its name in honour of the empress Marciana.