Mendes, a city of Egypt, near Lycopolis, on one of the mouths of the Nile, called the Mendesian mouth. Pan, under the form of a goat, was worshipped there with the greatest solemnity. It was unlawful to kill one of these animals, with which the Egyptians were not ashamed to have public commerce, to the disgrace of human nature, from the superstitious notion that such embraces had given birth to the greatest heroes of antiquity, as Alexander, Scipio, &c. Herodotus, bk. 2, chs. 42 & 46.—Strabo, bk. 17.—Diodorus, bk. 1.
Menĕcles, an orator of Alabanda in Caria, who settled at Rhodes. Cicero, On Oratory, bk. 2, ch. 53.—Strabo, bk. 14.
Meneclides, a detractor of the character of Epaminondas. Cornelius Nepos, Epaminondas.
Menecrătes, a physician of Syracuse, famous for his vanity and arrogance. He was generally accompanied by some of his patients, whose disorders he had cured. He disguised one in the habit of Apollo, and the other in that of Æsculapius, while he reserved for himself the title and name of Jupiter, whose power was extended over those inferior deities. He crowned himself like the master of the gods; and in a letter which he wrote to Philip king of Macedon, he styled himself in these words, Menecrates Jupiter to king Philip, greeting. The Macedonian monarch answered, Philip to Menecrates, greeting, and better sense. Philip also invited him to one of his feasts, but when the meats were served up, a table was put separate for the physician, on which he was served only with perfumes and frankincense, like the father of the gods. This entertainment displeased Menecrates; he remembered that he was a mortal, and hurried away from the company. He lived about 360 years before the christian era. The book which he wrote on cures is lost. Ælian, Varia Historia, bk. 10, ch. 51.—Athenæus, bk. 7, ch. 13.——One of the generals of Seleucus.——A physician under Tiberius.——A Greek historian of Nysa, disciple to Aristarchus, B.C. 119. Strabo, bk. 16.——An Ephesian architect who wrote on agriculture. Varro, de Re Rustica.——An historian.——A man appointed to settle the disputes of the Athenians and Lacedæmonians in the eighth year of the Peloponnesian war. His father’s name was Amphidorus.——An officer in the fleet of Pompey the son of Pompey the Great.
Menedēmus, an officer of Alexander, killed by the [♦]Dahæ. Curtius, bk. 7, ch. 6.——A Socratic philosopher of Eretria, who was originally a tent-maker, an employment which he left for the profession of arms. The persuasive eloquence and philosophical lectures of Plato had such an influence over him, that he gave up his offices in the state to cultivate literature. It is said that he died through melancholy when Antigonus, one of Alexander’s generals, had made himself master of his country, B.C. 301, in the 74th year of his age. Some attribute his death to a different cause, and say that he was falsely accused of treason, for which he became so desperate that he died, after he had passed seven days without taking any aliments. He was called the Eretrian Bull, on account of his gravity. Strabo, bk. 9.—Diogenes Laërtius.——A cynic philosopher of Lampsacus, who said that he was come from hell to observe the sins and wickedness of mankind. His habit was that of the furies, and his behaviour was a proof of his insanity. He was the disciple of Colotes of Lampsacus. Diogenes Laërtius.——An officer of Lucullus.——A philosopher of Athens. Cicero, On Oratory, bk. 1, ch. 19.
[♦] ‘Danæ’ replaced with ‘Dahæ’
Menegetas, a boxer or wrestler in Philip of Macedon’s army, &c. Polyænus.
Menĕlāi portus, a harbour on the coast of Africa, between Cyrene and Egypt. Cornelius Nepos, Agesilaus, ch. 8.—Strabo, bk. 1.——Mons, a hill near Sparta, with a fortification, called Menelaium. Livy, bk. 34, ch. 28.
Mĕnĕlāia, a festival celebrated at Therapnæ in Laconia, in honour of Menelaus. He had there a temple, where he was worshipped with his wife Helen, as one of the supreme gods.
Mĕnĕlāus, a king of Sparta, brother to Agamemnon. His father’s name was Atreus, according to Homer, or, according to the more probable opinion of Hesiod, Apollodorus, &c., he was the son of Plisthenes and Ærope. See: [Plisthenes]. He was educated with his brother Agamemnon in the house of Atreus, but soon after the death of this monarch, Thyestes his brother usurped the kingdom, and banished the two children of Plisthenes. Menelaus and Agamemnon came to the court of Œneus king of Calydonia, who treated them with tenderness and paternal care. From Calydonia they went to Sparta, where, like the rest of the Grecian princes, they solicited the marriage of Helen the daughter of king Tyndarus. By the artifice and advice of Ulysses, Helen was permitted to choose a husband, and she fixed her eyes upon Menelaus, and married him, after her numerous suitors had solemnly bound themselves by an oath to defend her, and protect her person against the violence or assault of every intruder. See: [Helena]. As soon as the nuptials were celebrated, [♦]Tyndarus resigned the crown to his son-in-law, and their happiness was complete. This was, however, of short duration; Helen was the fairest woman of the age, and Venus had promised Paris the son of Priam to reward him with such a beauty. See: [Paris]. The arrival of Paris in Sparta was the cause of great revolutions. The absence of Menelaus in Crete gave opportunities to the Trojan prince to corrupt the fidelity of Helen, and to carry away home what the goddess of beauty had promised to him as his due. This action was highly resented by Menelaus; he reminded the Greek princes of their oath and solemn engagements when they courted the daughter of Tyndarus, and immediately all Greece took up arms to defend his cause. The combined forces assembled at Aulis in Bœotia, where they chose Agamemnon for their general, and Calchas for their high priest; and after their applications to the court of Priam for the recovery of Helen had proved fruitless, they marched to meet their enemies in the field. During the Trojan war Menelaus behaved with great spirit and courage, and Paris must have fallen by his hand, had not Venus interposed and redeemed him from certain death. He also expressed his wish to engage Hector, but Agamemnon hindered him from fighting so powerful an adversary. In the tenth year of the Trojan war, Helen, as it is reported, obtained the forgiveness and the good graces of Menelaus by introducing him with Ulysses, the night that Troy was reduced to ashes, into the chamber of Deiphobus, whom she had married after the death of Paris. This perfidious conduct totally reconciled her to her first husband; and she returned with him to Sparta, during a voyage of eight years. He died some time after his return. He had a daughter called Hermione, and Nicostratus, according to some, by Helen, and a son called Megapenthes by a concubine. Some say that Menelaus went to Egypt on his return from the Trojan war to obtain Helen, who had been detained there by the king of the country. See: [Helena]. The palace which Menelaus once inhabited was still entire in the days of Pausanias, as well as the temple which had been raised to his memory by the people of Sparta. Homer, Odyssey, bk. 4, &c.; Iliad, bk. 1, &c.—Apollodorus, bk. 3, ch. 10.—Pausanias, bk. 3, chs. 14 & 19.—Dictys Cretensis, bk. 2, &c.—Virgil, Æneid, bk. 2, &c.—Quintus Smyrnæus bk. 14.—Ovid, Heroides, poems 5 & 13.—Hyginus fable 79.—Euripides, Iphigeneia.—Propertius, bk. 2.—Sophocles.——A lieutenant of Ptolemy, set over Salamis. Polyænus.—Pausanias.——A city of Egypt. Strabo, bk. 14.——A mathematician in the age of the emperor Trajan.