MELPOMENE.
 

MEMNON.
 

Sparta.   In B.C. 426 the Athenians made an

unsuccessful attack upon the island; but in 416

thev obtained  possession of the town after a

siege of several months, whereupon they killed

all the adult males, sold the women and  chil¬

dren as slaves, and peopled the island by an

Athenian colony.  Melof was the birth-place of

Diagoras, the atheist, whence Aristophanes calls

Socrates also the Melian.

  Melpomene  (MeXiropevn), i. e.,  the  singing

goddess, one of the nine Muses, who  presided

over Tragedy.   Vid. Mus^e.

  [Melpum (now Melza), a city of Gallia Trans¬

padana,  in the  territory of the Insubres.]

  [Melsus (now Narcea), a small stream in the

territory of the Astures, in  Hispania Tarraco¬

nensis, flowing into  the Oceanus Cantabricus,

west of Flavionovia.]

  Memini, a people  in  Gallia Narbonensis, on

the western bank of the Druentia, whose chief

town was Carpentoracte (now Carpentras).

  Memmia Gens, a  plebeian house at Rome,

whose members do not occur in history before

B.C. 173, but  who pretended to be descended

from the Trojan Mnestheus   (Virg.,  Mn., v.

117.)

  Memmius   1. C ,  tribune of the plebs  B.C.

Ill, was an ardent opponent of the oligarchical

party  at  Rome during the Jugurthine  war.

Among  the nobles  impeached by Memmius

were  L. Calpurnius  Bestia and  M.  .Emilius

Seaurus.  Memmius was slain by the mob of

Saturninus and Glaucia, while a candidate for

the consulship in 100.—2. 0 Memmius Gemel¬

lus, tribune of the plebs 66, curule aedile 60,

and praetor 58.  He belonged at that time to

the Senatorian party, since he  impeached P.

Vatinius,  opposed P. Clodius, and  was vehe¬

ment  in his invectives against Julius Caesar.

But before he  competed for the consulship, 54,

he had been reconciled to Caesar, who support¬

ed him  with all his  interest.  Memmius, how¬

ever, again offended Caesar by revealing a cer¬

tain coalition with his opponents at the comitia.

He was impeached for ambitus, and, receiving

no  aid from Caesar,  withdrew  from  Rome to

Mytilene, where he was living  in the year of

Cicero's proconsulate. Memmius married Faus¬

ta, a daughter of the dictator Sulla, whom he

divorced after having by her at  least  one son,

C. Memmius.  Vid. No. 3. He was eminent both

in literature and in eloquence.   Lucretius ded¬

icated his poem, De Rerum Natura, to him.  He

was a man of profligate character, and wrote

indecent poems —3.  C. Memmius, son of the

preceding, was tribune of  the plebs  54, when

he  prosecuted A. Gabinius  for malversation in

his province of Syria, and Domitius Calvinus

for ambitus at his consular comitia.  Memmius

 was step-son  of T. Annius  Milo, who married

his mother Fausta after her divorce.   He was

consul  suffectus 34—4. P. Memmius Regulus,

consul  suffectus A.D. 31, afterward praafect of

Macedonia and Achaia.  He was the husband

af Lollia Paulina, and was compelled by Caligu¬

la to divorce her.

  Memnon (Mepvov).   I. The beautiful son of

Tithonus and Eos (Aurora), and brother of Ema-

thion.  He is rarely mentioned by Homer, and

must be regarded essentially as a post-Homeric

hero.   According to these  later traditions, he

         498
 

was a prince of the ^Ethiopians, who came ;o

the assistance of his uncle Priam, for Tithonus

and Priam were half-brothers, being both sous

of Laomedon by different mothers.  Respect'ng

his expedition to  Troy there  are different le¬

gends.   According to some, Memnon the -lEthi-

opian first went to Egypt, thence to Susa, and.

thence to Troy.  At Susa, which had been found¬

ed by Tithonus, Memnon built the  acropolis,

which was called after him the Memnonium.

According to others, Tithonus was the govern¬

or of a  Persian province and the favorite of

Teutamus;  and Memnon obtained  the  com¬

mand of a large host of ^Ethiopians and Susans

to succor  Priam.   Memnon came to the wai

in armor made for him by Vulcan (Hephaestus).

He slew Antilochus, the son of Nestor, but was

himself slain by Achilles after a long and fierce

combat   While the two heroes were fighting,

Jupiter (Zeus) weighed their fates, and the scale

containing  Memnon's sank.  His mother was

inconsolable at his death. She wept for him

every morning; and the dew-drops of the morn¬

ing are  the tears of Aurora (Eos).  To soothe

the grief of his mother, Jupiter (Zeus) caused

a number of birds to issue out of the funeral

pile, on  which the body of Memnon  was  burn¬

ing, which, after flying thrice around the burn¬

ing pile, divided into two separate bodies, which

fought so fiercely that half of them fell  down

upon the ashes of the hero, and thus formed a

funeral  sacrifice for  him.  These birds were

called Memnonides, and,  according to a story

current  on the Hellespont, they visited every

year the tomb of the hero. At the  entreaties

of Aurora (Eos), Jupiter  (Zeus) conferred  im¬

mortality upon  Memnon.   At a comparatively

late period, the  Greeks gave the name of Mem¬

non to the  colossal statue in the  neighborhood

of Thebes, which was said to give forth a sound

like the snapping asunder of a chord when it

was struck by the  first rays of the rising sun.

Although the Greeks gave this  name  to the

statue, they were well aware that the Egyptians

did not  call the statue Memnon, but Amenophis.

This figure was made of black stone, in a sit¬

ting posture, with its feet close together, and the

hands leaning on the seat.  Several very in¬

genious conjectures have been propounded re¬

specting the alleged meaning of the so-called

statue of Memnon.   Some have  asserted that

it served for astronomical purposes,  and others

that it had reference to the mystic worship of

the sun and light, but there can be  little doubt

that the statue represented  nothing else than

the Egyptian king Amenophis.—2. A native of

Rhodes, joined Artabazus,  satrap  of  Lowel

Phrygia, who had married his sister, in his re¬

volt against Darius Ochus. When fortune de¬

serted the  insurgents, they fled to the court of

Philip.   Mentor, the brother of Memnon, being

high in  favor with Darius, interceded on behalf

of Artabazus and Memnon, who were pardoned

and again received into  favor.  On the death

of Mentor, Memnon,  who possessed  great mili-

tiry skill and experience, succeeded him in his

authority, which extended over all the western

coast of Asia Minor (about B.O. 336).  When

Alexander  invaded  Asia, Memnon defended

Halicarnassus against Alexander until it  was

no longer possible to hold out; he then  '.olio-*