Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/981

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loc cit.
loc cit.

MASCAMES. himsolf to the conqueror, along with his patron, I whose fate he shared towards thr. end of a. d. 323. A rare coin in third brass is found in some collec- tions bearing the legend n. N. martinianus p. f. AUG., which would indicate that he was created Aitiiastus; and this conclusion might be drawn from the words of Victor. [De Caes. A .) [Com- pare Valens, Aurelius Valerius.] {Exeerpta Vales. 25, 28, 29 ; Victor, de Cues. 41, Epit. 41; Zosim. ii. 25, 26, 28.) [W. R.] MARTI'NUS, bishop of Tours, hence desig- nated Turnnensis, was born in Pannonia, about the year 316, was educated at Pavia, and in the early part of his life served as a soldier, first under Constantine, afterwards under Julian. While yet in the arniy he embraced the true faith ; and after he had obtained his discharge, attached himself closely to Hilarius of Poitiers, by whose advice he returned to his native country, for the purpose of converting his kindred. During the sway of Con- stantine he was exposed to bitter persecution from the Arians, whose doctrines he steadfastly assailed ; but after this storm had in some measure passed away from the church, he returned to Gaul ; and about 360 again sought the society of Hilarius, and founded a monastery. From thence he was reluc- tantly dragged in 371, to occupy the see of Tours, and speedily attained such celebrity on account of his sanctity and power of working miracles, that, to avoid the multitudes attracted by his fame, he sought refuge in a neighbouring monastery ; and over this he presided until his death, which took place in his eightieth year, towards the very close of the fourth century. We possess a life of the saint written by Sulpicius Severus, filled with the most puerile fables, from which we gather that he was a man totally devoid of mental culture, whose wild fanaticism and austerities seriously affected his reason ; and that, although an object of awe and reverence to the crowd, sober-minded persons considered his sordid apparel, dishevelled hair, and beggarly aspect, as unbecoming in a Christian dignitary. Under the name of Martinus we possess a very short Covfessio Fidei de Sancta Tri?dtate the authenticity of which is doubtful. It will be found in almost all the large collections of fathers and councils, and under its best form in Galland, vol. vii. p. 599 ; Prolsq. c. xviii. p. xxvi. (Schone- mann, BMoih. Fair. Lat. vol. i. § 19.) [W. R.] MARULLUS, C. EPI'DIUS, tribune of the plebs, B. c. 44, removed, in conjunction with his colleague L. Caesetius Flavus, the diadem which had been placed upon the statue of C. Julius Caesar, and attempted to bring to trial the persons who had saluted the dictator as king. Caesar, in con- sequence, deprived him of the tribunate, by help of the tribune Helvius Cinna, and expelled him from the senate. (Dion Cass. xliv. 9, 1 ; Appian, n. a ii. 108, 122 ; Plut. Cues. 61 ; Veil. Pat. ii. 68 ; Suet. Cues. 79, 80 ; Cic. Philij>p. xiii. 15.) MARULLUS, JU'NIUS, mentioned by Taci- tus {Ann. xiv. 48), as consul designatus in A. d. 6"2, must have been one of the consules suffecti in tliat year, though his name does not occur in the Fasti. (Pighius, Annal. vol. iii. p. 595.) MASCAMES (Ma(r/caVi7s), a Persian, son of Megadostes or Megalostes, was made by Xerxes governor of Doriscus in Thrace, which he kept with great vigour and fidelity, defying all the efforts of the Greeks, after the failure of the Per- sian expedition, to expel him. Xerxes honoured MASINISSA. 967 him with annual presents, as a reward for his faithful service, — a mark of approbation which Artaxerxes continued to his descendants. (Herod, vii. 105, 106.) [E. E.] MASCEZEL. [GiLDO.] MA'SGABA, a Numidian, son of Masinissa, was sent to Rome by his father as ambassador in B.C. 168. He was received with the utmost dis- tinction, one of the quaestors being sent to meet him at Puteoli, and attend him from thence to Rome. (Liv. xlv. 13, 14.) [E. H. B.] MASINISSA (Macro-amo-o-Tjs), king of the Numidians, celebrated for the conspicuous part he bore in the wars between the Romans and Car- thaginians, He was the son of Gala, king of the Massylians, the easternmost of the two great tribes into which the Numidians were at that time di- vided, but was brought up at Carthage, where he ap- pears to have received an education superior to that usual among his countrymen. ( Liv. xxiv. 49; Appian, Pim. 10, 37.) He was still quiteayoimg man*, but had already given proofs of great ability and energy of character, when in b. c. 213 the Carthaginians persuaded Gala to declare war against Syphax, king of the neighbouring tribe of the Massaesylians, who had lately entered into an alliance with Rome. Masinissa was appointed by his father to command the invading force, with which he attacked and totally defeated Syphax, whom he drove to take refuge in Mauritania, and following him thither carried on the war Avith unabated vigour, so as effectually to prevent him from crossing into Spain to the assistance of the Romans in that country. (Liv. xxiv. 49.) Of the farther progress of this war in Africa we hear nothing ; but the next year (b. c. 212) we find Masinissa in Spain, supporting the Carthaginian generals there with a large body of Numidian horse ; and it appears probable that, though only occasionally mentioned, he continued to hold the same post during the subsequent yeju's of the war in that country. In 210, indeed, he is mentioned as being at Carthage, but apparently only for the purpose of obtaining reinforcements for the army in Spain, in which country we again find him in the following year (209), at the time that Hasdrubal set out on his march into Italy. In 206 he is mentioned as present at Silpia, where he shared with Hasdrubal, Gisco, and Mago in their total defeat by Scipio. (Liv. xxv. 34, xxvii. 5, 20, xxviii. 13 ; Polvb. xi. 21 ; Appian, Hisp. 25, 27.) But the reverse then sustained by the Carthaginian arms proved too much for the fidelity of Masinissa : shortly after the battle he made secret overtures to Silanus, the lieutenant of Scipio, which, however, led to no immediate result, the Numidian chief being desirous to treat with Scipio in person, an opportunity for which did not for some time present itself. At length, however, the desired interview took place, and Masinissa pledged himself to support the Romans with all the forces at his command as soon as they should carry an anny into Africa, (Liv. xxviii. 16, 35.) In ad-

  • Livy indeed states (xxiv. 49) that he was at

this time only seventeen years old ; but this is inconsistent with the statement of Polybiiis (xxxvii. 3), which is followed by Livy himself in another passage {Epit. 1.), that Masinissa was ninety years old at the time of his death, b. c. 148. According to this account, he would be at this time about twenty-live years of age. 3a 4