Minos II., was a son of Lycastes, the son of Minos I. king of Crete. He married Pasiphae the daughter of Sol and Perseis, and by her he had many children. He increased his paternal dominions by the conquest of the neighbouring islands, but he showed himself cruel in the war which he carried on against the Athenians, who had put to death his son Androgeus. See: [Androgeus]. He took Megara by the treachery of Scylla [See: [Scylla]], and, not satisfied with a victory, he obliged the vanquished to bring him yearly to Crete seven chosen boys, and the same number of virgins, to be devoured by the Minotaur. See: [Minotaurus]. This bloody tribute was at last abolished when Theseus had destroyed the monster. See: [Theseus]. When Dædalus, whose industry and invention had fabricated the labyrinth, and whose imprudence, in assisting Pasiphae in the gratification of her unnatural desires, had offended Minos, fled from the place of his confinement with wings [See: [Dædalus]], and arrived safe in Sicily, the incensed monarch pursued the offender, resolved to punish his infidelity. Cocalus king of Sicily, who had hospitably received Dædalus, entertained his royal guest with dissembled friendship; and that he might not deliver to him a man whose ingenuity and abilities he so well knew, he put Minos to death. Some say that it was the daughters of Cocalus who put the king of Crete to death, by detaining him so long in a bath till he fainted, after which they suffocated him. Minos died about 35 years before the Trojan war. He was father of Androgeus, Glaucus, and Deucalion, and two daughters, Phædra and Ariadne. Many authors have confounded the two monarchs of this name, the grandfather and the grandson, but Homer, Plutarch, and Diodorus prove plainly that they were two different persons. Pausanias, Achaia, ch. 4.—Plutarch, Theseus.—Hyginus, fable 41.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 8, li. 141.—Diodorus, bk. 4.—Virgil, Æneid, bk. 6, li. 21.—Plutarch, Parallela minora.—Athenæus.—Flaccus, bk. 14.
Minōtaurus, a celebrated monster, half a man and half a bull, according to this verse of Ovid, Ars Amatoria, bk. 2, li. 24,
Semibovemque virum, semivirumque bovem.
It was the fruit of Pasiphae’s amour with a bull. Minos refused to sacrifice a white bull to Neptune, an animal which he had received from the god for that purpose. This offended Neptune, and he made Pasiphae the wife of [♦]Minos enamoured of this fine bull, which had been refused to his altars. Dædalus prostituted his talents in being subservient to the queen’s unnatural desires, and, by his means, Pasiphae’s horrible passions were gratified, and the Minotaur came into the world. Minos confined in the labyrinth a monster which convinced the world of his wife’s lasciviousness and indecency, and reflected disgrace upon his family. The Minotaur usually devoured the chosen young men and maidens, whom the tyranny of Minos yearly extracted from the Athenians. Theseus delivered his country from this shameful tribute, when it had fallen to his lot to be sacrificed to the voracity of the Minotaur, and, by means of Ariadne, the king’s daughter, he destroyed the monster, and made his escape from the windings of the labyrinth. The fabulous traditions of the Minotaur, and of the infamous commerce of Pasiphae with a favourite bull, have been often explained. Some suppose that Pasiphae was enamoured of one of her husband’s courtiers, called Taurus, and that Dædalus favoured the passion of the queen by suffering his house to become the retreat of the two lovers. Pasiphae, some time after, brought twins into the world, one of whom greatly resembled Minos, and the other Taurus. In the natural resemblance of their countenance with that of their supposed fathers originated their name, and consequently the fable of the Minotaur. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 8, fable 2.—Hyginus, fable 40.—Plutarch, Theseus.—Palæphatus.—Virgil, Æneid, bk. 6, li. 26.
[♦] ‘Minys’ replaced with ‘Minos’
Minthe, a daughter of Cocytus, loved by Pluto. Proserpine discovered her husband’s amour, and changed his mistress into an herb, called by the same name, mint. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 10, li. 729.
Minturnæ, a town of Campania, between Sinuessa and Formiæ. It was in the marshes, in its neighbourhood, that Marius concealed himself in the mud, to avoid the partisans of Sylla. The people condemned him to death, but when his voice alone had terrified the executioner, they showed themselves compassionate, and favoured his escape. Marica was worshipped there; hence Maricæ regna applied to the place. Strabo, bk. 2.—Mela, bk. 2, ch. 4.—Livy, bk. 8, ch. 10; bk. 10, ch. 21; bk. 27, ch. 38.—Paterculus, bk. 2, ch. 14.—Lucan, bk. 2, li. 424.
Mĭnŭtia, a vestal virgin, accused of debauchery on account of the beauty and elegance of her dress. She was condemned to be buried alive because a female supported the false accusation, A.U.C. 418. Livy, bk. 8, ch. 15.——A public way from Rome to Brundusium. See: [Via].
Mĭnŭtius Augurinus, a Roman consul slain in a battle against the Samnites.——A tribune of the people, who put Mælius to death when he aspired to the sovereignty of Rome. He was honoured with a brazen statue for causing the corn to be sold at a reduced price to the people. Livy, bk. 4, ch. 16.—Pliny, bk. 18, ch. 3.——Rufus, a master of horse to the dictator Fabius Maximus. His disobedience to the commands of the dictator was productive of an extension of his prerogative, and the master of the horse was declared equal in power to the dictator. Minutius, soon after this, fought with ill success against Annibal, and was saved by the interference of Fabius; which circumstance had such an effect upon him, that he laid down his power at the feet of his deliverer, and swore that he would never act again but by his directions. He was killed at the battle of Cannæ. Livy.—Cornelius Nepos, Hannibal.——A Roman consul who defended Coriolanus from the insults of the people, &c.——Another, defeated by the Æqui, and disgraced by the dictator Cincinnatus.——An officer under Cæsar, in Gaul, who afterwards became one of the conspirators against his patron. Cæsar, Gallic War, bk. 6, ch. 29.——A tribune who warmly opposed the views of Caius Gracchus.——A Roman, chosen dictator, and obliged to lay down his office, because, during the time of his election, the sudden cry of a rat was heard.——A Roman, one of the first who were chosen questors.——Felix, an African lawyer, who flourished 207 A.D. He has written an elegant dialogue in defence of the christian religion, called Octavius, from the principal speaker in it. This book was long attributed to Arnobius, and even printed as an eighth book (Octavus), till Balduinus discovered the imposition in his edition of Felix, 1560. The two last editions are that of Davies, 8vo, Cambridge, 1712; and of Gronovius, 8vo, Leiden, 1709.
Minyæ, a name given to the inhabitants of Orchomenos in Bœotia, from Minyas king of the country. Orchomenos the son of Minyas gave his name to the capital of the country, and the inhabitants still retained their original appellation, in contradistinction to the Orchomenians of Arcadia. A colony of Orchomenians passed into Thessaly and settled in Iolchos; from which circumstance the people of the place, and particularly the Argonauts, were called Minyæ. This name they received, according to the opinion of some, not because a number of Orchomenians had settled among them, but because the chief and noblest of them were descended from the daughters of Minyas. Part of the Orchomenians accompanied the sons of Codrus when they migrated to Ionia. The descendants of the Argonauts, as well as the Argonauts themselves, received the name of Minyæ. They first inhabited Lemnos, where they had been born from the Lemnian women who had murdered their husbands. They were driven from Lemnos by the Pelasgi about 1160 years before the christian era, and came to settle in Laconia, from whence they passed into Calliste with a colony of Lacedæmonians. Hyginus, fable 14.—Pausanias, bk. 9, ch. 6.—Apollonius, bk. 1, Argonautica.—Herodotus, bk. 4, ch. 145.