Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 13.djvu/347

MENDOZA. 313 MENELAUS. each territory n iH'i^mal rcprcsoiitativp of the Emperor's aiitliority. and -Meiuloza «as appointed the first Vieerov ol .Mexieo. He arrived there in 1535. With liini he brought a printing press on which was printed the next year La escala de San Juan Vlimucu, the first book printed in Mexico. A mint was establislied the same year, sehools and hospitals were built, and a college was founded. The breed of sheep was improved, silk culture was encouraged, anil better nietlKHls of agriculture were inlrodnced. In 1542 a forniidal)le insurrection of the Indians was suppressed. An expedition under ^'asquez de Coronado was sent to discover the mythical eity of Ciluila and the no less mythical Quivira, and explored nnieh of what is now Xew Mexico and Colorado. Mendoza was not able to carry into ef- fect the prohibition of further enslavement of the Indians, but succeeded better tlian miglit have been ex]icctcd. In I.toO he was appointed Vice- roy of I'eni. He was an amiable but dignified and just man, a striking contrast to many of the Spanisli rulers. MENDOZA, Diego Hurtado de (150.3-75). A Spanish statesman and man of letters, born at Granada. Trained at Salamanca for the Church, he entered instead u])on a militaiy career and passed through the Italian campaigns of Charles V. The latter sent him as Ambassador to V'enice. whence he passed (in 1547) to Siena as the Imperial Governor. He had (in 1545) repre- sented his Imperial master at theCouncil of Trent; and in 154!l he went to Rome to carry out Charles's policy of bullying the Papacy. In 1554 he re- turned to Si)ain. As a poet Mendoza has left compositions in the older conventional Spanish manner, and some that show the influence of his classical attainments; he gained greatest repute in his own time, however, as one of the leaders in the movement which accomplished the Italian- izing of Spanisli lyric poetry. Mendoza's prose work of the most importance is his Oiierra de flraiiiidii, dealing with an insurrection of the Moors. His aci|uaintancc with Araliic equipped him admirably for the perfonnanee of this his- torical task, but his outspoken honesty prevented the appearance of a complete edition of the work until 1730, for the editions of Madrid ( 1010) and Lisbon (l(l'i7) arc defective. Consult his verse in vol. xxxii. of the Bihlioteca de autores espit- I'liilcf!. and, in vol, xxi. of that same collection, an edition of the (lurrra dr Ornntida: J. D. Fesen- mair. D. Iliirtadn dc Mcndo::n, cin spniiificher Hiimiiiii.it (IcK llileii Jtilirhundcrts (Jlunich, 1SS2) ; Foulche-Belbose. in the Revue Hispanique i., 101, and ii., 208. MENDOZA, Inigo Lopez de, Marquis de SantilhiiKV. See Santillana Inigo Lopez de Mendoza. Jlarqufs de. MENDOZA, .TuAN- Gonzalez de (c.l540- 1C17). A Spanish prelate, born at Toledo. He joined (lie army, but after some years resigned to enter the Order of Saint Augustine. In 1580 he was sent by Philip IT. to China, where he spent three years in gaining information as to the politics, commerce, and customs of the coun- trj He spent two years in Mexico before return- ing to Spain, He was afterwards Bishop of the Lipari Islands, of Chiapas, and of Popayiin. where he died. He published an account of his observations in China in a work entitled Historia dc Uis cosa.1 mds notables, rito/s y costumbres del gran rcijno dc la China. An English translation appeared in 1588, and was rejirinted by the Hakluyt Society in 1853-54. MENDOZA, Pedko de (c.1487-1537) . A Spanish cxjdorer. He was of a noble family high in the favor of the Emperor Charles V. In 1529 he oll'ered to explore South America at his own expense and establish colonies. He was made military Governor of all the tcrritorj' between the Rio de la Plata and the Strait of Magel- lan, and the Emperor gave 2000 ducats and advanced 2000 more on the condition that within two years Jlendoza should transport one thou- sand colonists, build roads into the interior, and build three forts. He was to have half the treas- ure of the chiefs killed and nine-tenths of the ransom. The office of Governor was also made hereditaiy. In 1534 with a considerable licet he set sail, but a terrible tempest scattered it ofT the coast of Brazil. Here his lieutenant, Osorio, was assassinated, according to some authorities by the orders of Mendoza himself. He sailed up the Rio de la Plata and founded Buenos Ayres in 1535. Pestilence broke out, and the natives be- came unfriendly. His brother Diego, who led a force against the hostile tribes, was killed with three-fourths of his men. A general conspiracy of the natives was formed, and the city was cap- tured and bvirned. Another brother, Cionzalo, ar- rived with reenforcements and founded the city of Asuncion in Paraguay in 1530. Mendoza, dis- appointed and broken in health, embarked for Spain, but died a maniac during the voyage, in 1537. MEN'EDE'MUS (Lat., from CJk. Me^Sijuos) ( ?-c.277 U.C.J. A t4reek philosopher, a native of Eretria. According to some authorities, he studied under Plato; according to others, under Stilpo at Megara. He founded the Eretrian School of philosophy, and was also one of the leading men in the political affairs of his vState. All that is known of the philosophy of Menedemus is that it closely rcsemlded that of the Megarian School. MEN'ELA'US (Lat., from Gk. -iUvilaoc) . In ancient Cireck legend, a King of Laceda>inon. the younger brother of Agamemnon and husliand of the famous Helen. The abduction of his wife by Paris is represented as the cause of the Trojan War. In the Iliad he appears most prominently in the duel with Paris, when the life of the latter is saved only by the divine interposition of -|)hrodite, and in the battle oveT the body of Patroelus, where he is one of the foremost com- batants, and eventually carries the corpse from the field. After the capture of Troy he slew Deiphobus, who had wedded Helen after the death of Paris, and in some versions intended to kill his wife, but was disarmed by her beauty. After the fall of Troy he sailed with Helen for his own land ; but his fleet was scattered by a storm, and he wandered for eight years about the coasts of Cyprus, Phaniicia, Eg^'pt, and Libya. After his return lie lived at Sparta with his wife. Helen, in great happiness. Both ilenelaus and Helen were worshiped as gods at Therapne. near Sparta, and it is probable that here, as so com- monly in Grecian heroic myths, we have two local deities who have been reduced to hero and heroine. MENELAUS. A Greek mathematician, who lived c. 100 A.n. He wrote a book on the calcula- tion of chords, not now extant, and a work in three