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MABASH. 39 MARATHON. foitifications and tuiijljs uilli Greek inscriptions. Jlany Hitlite monuments liave also been discov- ered near ilarasli. The population is estimated at from 40,000 to 52,000, including many Ar- menians. MABAS'MtrS (Neo-Lat., from Gk. iiapa<rfi.6s, ruiiriisinos, decay, from tiapaiveiv, waraincin, to caken; ultimately connected with Skt. mar, to grind, mla, weaken, Olr. nieirb, AS. iiicani, OHG. vniruwi, munci, Ger. miirbe, soft). A term some- what vaguely used by the older medical writers to designate those cases of general emaciation or atrophy for which they did not see any special cause. The word is now seldom used except occa- sionally as a synon n for tabes mesenterica, or tubercular disease of the mesenteric glands. See TrUERCL LOSIS. MABAT, ma'ra', Jean Paul (1744-93). One of tlie radical leaders of the French Revolution, Ijorn May 24, 1744, at Boudry, near Neufchatel, Switzerland. In youth he made himself master of several languages; subsequently he studied medicine at Bordeaux and at Paris, and, after traveling extensively in Europe, removed to Lon- don. There he practiced medicine and published An Essay on Man (1772) and the Chains of Slavery (1776). Returning to Paris, he wrote on optical subjects and electricity, and entered the service of the Count of Artois as a veterinary surgeon in 1777. The fruits of his studies in physics appeared in a number of paradoxical pub- lications on electricity and optics. Upon the outbreak of the Revolution ilarat soon came to the front as one of its most extravagant, pas- sionate, and demagogical leaders, and won a large following. On September 12, 178U, ho established a journal. Le Piibliciste Parisien, which became better known as L'Ami dti Peuple, and, after September 21, 1792, as Le Journal de la Repub- lique. The more conservative revolutionists looked with abhorrence upon this incarnation of the worst passions of the hour, but the support of tlie lowest among the populace kept him in a position of influence. His violence caused an order of arrest to be issued against him in 1790, but lie succeeded in evading capture, thanks to the protection of the Club of the Cordeliers, of which he was a member. A bitter foe of the Gi- rondists, he clamored for their destruction after the return of the King from Varennes. Danton, who had found JIarat useful in the preparation of the events which led up to the storming of the Tuileries (August 10, 1792), made him a mem- ber of the Commune of Paris. It was in a great measure the influence of Marat which led to the cruelties and massacres of September, 1792. in the midst of which he was elected a member of the Convention. His journal became more fero- cious and sanguinarj' than ever. During the King's trial he was urgent for his immediate e.ecution. and in his journal called upon the people to slay 200,000 of the adherents of the old regime. On April 14. 1793, he was brought before the Revolutionary Tribunal on the charge of fomenting sedition, but was acquitted (April 24th) and returned to the Convention more powerful than ever. He played probably the leading part in the events of May 31 -June 2, which brought about the downfall of the Giron- dists, wlio had long regarded him as their most inveterate enemy. On July 13. 1703, Marat was stabbed in his own hoiise l)y Charlotte Corday (q.v. ). His death aroused tremendous public feeling. His bust was placed in the Hall of the Convention; the scene of his murder was l)ainted by David; fetes in perpetuation of his memory were held all over France; mothers luimed their children after the "martyr of the people,' and in November the Convention de- creed to Jlarat's remains the honors of the Pan- theon. His body was, however, removed in Feb- ruar}-, 1795. Consult: Bax, Jean Paul Marat, the People's Friend (Boston, 1901), a rehabili- tation; Burnet, Marat (Paris, 1802), a brief sketch; Cabanes, Marat inconnu, I'hommc prive, le medecin, le savant, d'apres des documents nouveaux et inedits (Paris, 1891) ; Chfevremont, Jam Paul Marat (Paris, 1880). MABATHI, ma-rii'te. A language spoken in Westocn India, and closely related to Sindhi, Gujarati, and other modern vernaculars of Indo- Iranian origin. It is the tongue of between 15,000,000 and 20,000,000 people, and is divided into several dialects, which are comprised under the two great groups Dakhani and Konkani. The former of these is found, as its name implies, in the Deccan, and contains the standard dialect, called Deshi, spoken near Poona. The district of the Konkani is along the coast in the south- western portion of the country of the Mahrattas. It contains a considerable mixture of Dravidian words from the neighboring Kanarese,and around Goa it has juimerous Portuguese loan-words. Marathi as a whole, despite its importations from. Persian and Arabic, has departed less from the Sanskrit fomi than almost any other New In- dian language. It is probably descended from the vernacular form of the Maharashtri Prakrit dialect of mediieval India. Marathi literature is abundant. It begins in the thirteentli century with Xamdev, a predeces- sor of the famous Tukaram (a.d. 1609), who wrote religious poems of a pronounced Vishnu- itic trend. Another poet almost as highly es- teemed as Tukaram was Mayur Pandit or Moro- pant in the eighteenth century. Prose works in Jlarathi are comparatively unim]iortant. Mod- ern literature in this language, under English in- fluence, is copious but rather mediocre. The alphabet employed by the Marathi is the Devana- gari, in which Sanskrit is written. Consult: Xavalkar, Student's Marathi Gram- mar (Bombay, 1880); Joshi, Comprehensive Marathi Grammar (Poona, 19001 ; Molesworth and Candy, Marathi and English Dictionary (2d ed., Bombay, 1857) ; Godbole, Selections from the Marathi Poets (5th ed.. Bombay, 1864) ; Mit- chell, "The Chief Marathi Poets," in the Transac- tions of the Ninth International Congress of Ori- entalists, vol. i. (London, 1892) : Manwaring, Marathi Proverbs Collected and Traiislatcd (Ox- ford, 1899). MAB^'ATHON' (Lat., from Gk. Mapaflu;'). Anciently a small town on the eastern coast of Attica, about twentj- miles northeast of Athens. The modern village lies at the point where a valley opens into the plain of Marathon, which is surrounded by a semicircular range of moun- tains on the north, west, and south, while on the east it is washed by the Bay of Marathon. South of the valley of Marathon is another valley, in which is the little village of Vrana, "probably the site of the ancient town, while from the southern extremity of the plain, between the sea and the mountains, a road leads by a circuitous route between Mounts Pentelieus and Hymettus into