OTELLS.
 

MELISSA
 

head  and bi&p, and at length waged open war

against each  other.  The Calydonians were

always victorious, so long as  Meleager went

out with them.  But when his mother Althaea

pronounced  a  curse upon  lrm, enraged at the

death of her brother who hac fallen in the fight,

Meleager stayed at home wi h his wife C eopa-

fra.   The Curetes now began to press Calydon

Vfiry hard   It was in vain that the old men of

(he town made him the most brilliant promises

■f he would again join in the fight, and that his

father, his sisters, and his mother supplicated

him.  At length, however, he yielded  to the

prayers of his  wife Cleopatra :  he  put the Cu¬

retes  to flight,  but he never returned home, for

the Erinnys, who had heard the curse of his

mother, overtook him.  Such is the more an¬

cient form of the legend, as we find it in Horner.

(It., ix , 527, &eq.)   In the later traditions Me¬

leager collects the  heroes from all parts of

Greece to join him in the hunt.  Among others

was the fair maiden Atalanta ; but the heroes

refused to hunt with her, until Meleager, who

was in love with her, overcame their opposition.

Atalanta gave the animal the first wound, which

was at length slain by Meleager.   He present¬

ed the hide to Atalanta, but the sons of Thes-

tius took it from her, whereupon Meleager in a

rage slew them.  This, however, was the cause

of his own death, which came to pass in the

following way.   When he was seven days old

the Mceraa appeared,  declaring that the boy

would die as soon as the piece of wood which

was burning on the hearth should be consumed.

Althaea, upon hearingthis, extinguished the fire¬

brand, and concealed it in a chest.  Meleager

himself became invulnerable ; but after he had

killed the brothers  of his  mother, she lighted

the piece of wood, and Meleager died. Althaea,

too late repenting of what she had done, put an

end to  her  life; and  Cleopatra died of grief.

The sisters of Meleager wept unceasingly after

his death, until Diana (Artemis) changed them

into  Guinea-hens  (peXeayptdeg),  which  were

transferred to the island of Leros.   Even in

this condition they mourned during a certain

part of the year for their brother.   Two of

them, Gorge and Deianira, through the media¬

tion of Bacchus (Dionysus),  were not meta¬

morphosed.—2. Son of Neoptolemus, a Mace¬

donian  officer in the service of Alexander the

Great.  After the death of Alexander the Great

(B.O. 323) Meleager resisted the claims of Per¬

diccas to the regency, and was eventually asso¬

ciated with the  latter in  this office.  Shortly

afterward, however, he was  put to death by

order of Perdiccas.—[3. Commander of a squad¬

ron  of cavalry in the army of Alexander the

Great at the battle of Arbela.  He  was after¬

ward slain in  an insurrection against the offi¬

cers  left by Antigonus in the government of

Media.]—4. Son of Eucrates, the  celebrated

writer and collector of epigrams, was a native

of Gadara in  Palestine, and lived  about  B.C.

60.   There  are one hundred and thirty-one of

his epigrams in the Greek Anthology, written

in a good Greek style, though somewhat affect¬

ed, and distinguished  by sophistic acumen and

amatory fancy.  An account of his collection of

spigrams is given under Planudes.

   [Meles (MeXng), a small stream of Ionia flow-

         496
 

ing by Smyrna, on the banks of which Home<

is said to have been born ; (according to anoth

er account, he composed his poems in a grot

to at  its source) and hence was called Mele-

sigenes (MsXijaiyevng):  from this also was de¬

rived  the  phrase  Meletea.  ehartce in TibUlus

Another account makes  Meles, the  god oi !his

stream, to have been the father of Homer ]

  [Melesander (MeXijaavbpog),  an Athenian

general, who was sent out with six ships in the

year 430 B.C. against Caria and Lycia; fell in

battle in Lycia.]

  [Melesippus (MeXriaiirirog), a Lacedaemonian,

one of the ambassadors sent  to  Athens B.C.

432, and again  the  next year to demand  the

restoration of the independence of the Greek

states, but without success.]

  Meletus or Melitus (MeXnrog: MOurog), an

obscure tragic poet, but notorious  as one of the

accusers of Socrates, was an Athenian, of the

Pitthean demus.  He  is represented by Plato

and Aristophanes and their scholiasts as a frigid

and licentious poet, and a worthless and profli¬

gate man.   In the accusation of Socrates it was

Meletus who laid the  indictment  before  the

archon Basileus;  but, in reality, he was  the

most insignificant of the accusers ; and, accord¬

ing to one account, he was bribeti  by  Anytus

and Lycon to take part in the affair.  Soon after

the death  of Socrates, the Athenians repented

of their injustice, and Meletus was stoned to

death  as one of the authors of their folly.

  Melia (MeXla), a nymph, daughter of Oceanus,

became by Inachus the  mother of Phoroneus

and ^Egialeus or Pegeus;  and by Silenus  the

mother of the  centaur Pholus;  and by Nep¬

tune (Poseidon) of Amycus.   She was carried

off by Apollo, and became by him the mother

of Ismenius and of the seer Tenerus. She waa

worshipped in the Ismenium, the sanctuary of

Apollo, near Thebes.  In the plural form, the

Melia;  or Meliades (MeXlai, MeXidSeg)  are  the

nymphs who,   along with  the  Gigantes   and

Erinnyes,  sprang  from the drops  of blood  that

fell from Ccelus (Uranus) and were received by

Terra (Gaaa).  The nymphs that nursed Jupiter

(Zeus) are likewise called Meliaa.

  Melibcea (MeXiBoia:  MeXtBoevg).   1.  A town

on the coast of Thessaly, in Magnesia, between

Mount Ossa and Mount Pelion, is said  to have

been built by Magnes, and to have been named

Melibcea in honor of his  wife.  It is mentioned

by  Homer as  belonging to the dominions of

Philoctetes, who is hence called by Virgil (Mn.,

iii, 401) dux Melibosus.   It was celebrated for

its  purple dye.  (Lucret., ii, 499  ; Virg., Mn.,

v.,  251.)—3 A small island at  the mouth of the

River Orontes,  in Syria.

  Melicertes.   Vid. Palaemon.

  [Melinophagi (MeXivoijidyoi, "Millet-eaters'"),

a Thracian people on the coast of Salmydessus,

whom the Greeks named after their chief article

of food, not knowing their real name.]

  Melissa (MeXiaaa).  1. A nymph said to have

discovered the  use of honey,  and from whom

bees were believed to have received their name

(peXiaoai).   There can be no doubt, however,

that the name really came from piXi, honey,

and was hence given to nymphs.   According

to some traditions, bees were nymphs meta¬

morphosed.  Hence the nymphs whr  fed tha