Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/1125

MOLTONES. them as aged and hideous women, and even as hime, to indicate the slow march of fate (CatuU. t;4, 306 ; Ov. Met. xv. 781 ; Tzetz. ad Lye. 584) ; but in works of art they are represented as grave maidens, with different attributes, viz., Clotho with a spindle or a roll (the book of fate) ; Lachesis pointing with a staff to the horoscope on the globe ; and Atropos with a pair of scales, or a sun-dial, or a cutting instrument. It is worthy of remark that the Muse Urania was sometimes represented with the same attributes as Lachesis, and that Aphrodite Urania at Athens, according to an inscription on a Hermes-pillar, was called the oldest of the Moirae. (Paus. i. 19. § 2; comp. Welcker, Zeiischrift fur alt. Kunst, p. 1 97, &c. ; BlUmner, Ueber die Idee des ScMcksals, p. 115, &c. ; Hirt. Mytholog. Bil- derh. ^.200.) Moira also occurs as the proper name of a daughter of Cinyras, who is more commonly called Smyrna. (Schol. ad Tlieocrit. i. 109.) [L. S.] MOIRA'GETES {UoLpaytT-ns), the guide or leader of fate, occurs as a surname of Zeus and Apollo at Delphi. (Paus. x. 24. § 4.) [L. S.J MOLAE, Roman divinities, are called daughters of Mars. (Gell. xiii. 22.) l{9,TiVirg {Die Relig. d. Rom. vol. i. p. 130) is inclined to consider their name to be identical with Mwai and Movaai, and accordingly thinks that they were the same as the Camenae ; but in another passage (vol. ii. p. 172) he admits the probability that, as their name plainly indicates, they were in some way connected with the pounding or grinding of grain. [L. S.] MO'LION {Moiwp). J. One of the sons of Eurytus who were slain by Heracles along with their father. (Diod. iv. 37 ; comp. Eurytus.) 2. A Trojan, the charioteer of Thymbraeus. (Hom. K xi. 322.) [L. S.] MO'LIONE. [MoLioNES.] MO'LIONES or MOLIO'NIDAE {Moiov€s, MoAtoj/iSot), a patronymic name by which Eurytus and Cteatus, the sons of Actor, or Poseidon, by Molione, are often designated. They were nephews of Augeas, king of the Epeians. As sons of Actor, they are also called Actgridae, or *A /crop We. (Hom. IL xxiii. 638 ; Ov. Met. viii. 308.) Ac- cording to a late tradition, they were born out of an egg (Athen. ii. p. 58) ; and it is further stated, that the two brothers were grown together, so that they had only one body, but two heads, four arms, and four legs, (Athen. /. c. ; Eustath. ad Horn. p. 882 ; Pherecyd. Fragm. 47, ed. Sturz ; Plut. Defrat. am. 1.) Homer mentions none of these extraordinary circumstances ; and, according to him, the Mo- liones, when yet boys, took part in an expedition of the Epeians against Neleus and the Pylians. {II. xi. 709, 750.) When Heracles marched against Augeas to chastise him for refusing to give the reward he had promised, he entrusted the con- duct of the war to the Moliones ; but Heracles, who, in the mean time was taken ill and concluded peace with Augeas, was then himself attacked and beaten by them. In order to take vengeance, he afterwards slew them near Cleonae^ on the frontiers of Argolis, as they had been sent from Elis to sacrifice at the Isthmian games, on behalf of the town. (Apollod. ii. 7. § 2 ; Pind. 01. xi. 33, &c., with the Schol. ; Paus. viii. 1 4. § 6.) The Eleians demanded of the Argives to atone for this murder ; but as the latter refused, and were not excluded from the Isthmian games, Molione cursed the Eleians who should ever take part again in those MOLOSSUS. Ill games. (Paus. v. 2. § 1.) Heracles, on the other hand, dedicated, on account of his victory, six altars at Olympia, and instituted special honours at Nemea for the 360 Cleonaeans who had assisted him, but had fallen in the contest. (Schol. ad Find. 01. xi. 29; Aelian, V. H. iv. 5.) The Moliones are also mentioned as conquerors of Nestor in the chariot race, and as having taken part in the Calydonian hunt. (Athen. I.e. ; Hom. II. xxiii. 638, &c. ; Ov. Met. viii. 308.) Cteatus was the father of Amphimachus by Theronice ; and Eurytus, of Thalpius by Theraphone. (Hom. //. ii. 620 ; Paus. v. 3. § 4.) Their tomb was shown in later times at Cleonae. (Paus. ii, 15. § 1 ; comp. Taraxippus.) [L. S.] MOLLFCULUS, MINU'CIUS. [Auguri- Nus, No. 9.] MOLON (MJAwi/), a general of Antiochus the Great, who held the satrapy of Media at the acces- sion of that monarch (b, c, 223) ; in addition to which, Antiochus conferred upon him and his brother Alexander the government of all the upper provinces of his empire. But their hatred to Hermeias, the chief minister of Antiochus, soon led them both to revolt : the two generals at first sent against them by the king were unable to oppose their progress, and Molon found himself at the head of a large army, and master of the whole country to the east of the Tigris. He was, how- ever, foiled in his attempts to pass that river ; but Xenoetas, the general of Antiochus, who was now sent against him with a large force, having ven- tured to cross it in his turn, was surprised by Molon, and his whole army cut to pieces. The rebel satrap now crossed the Tigris, and made himself master of the city of Seleuceia together with the whole of Babylonia and Mesopotamia. But the formidable character which the insurrec- tion had thus assumed, at length determined Antiochus to march in person against the rebels. After wintering at Nisibis, he crossed the Tigris, B. c. 220, and advanced southwards against Molon, who marched from Babylon to meet him. A pitched battle ensued, in which the desertion of the left wing of the rebel array at once decided the victory in favour of the king. Molon himself put an end to his own life, to avoid falling into the hands of the enemy : but his body was crucified by order of Antiochus, or rather of his minister Her- meias. (Polyb. v. 40 — 54 ; Trog. Pomp. Frol, XXX.) [E. H. B.] MOLON {yi6Kuv). 1. A tragic actor of the time of Aristophanes, (Aristoph. Ran. 55.) According to the scholiast, Aristophanes in the passage referred to is speaking ironically, for Molon was a very large man. The scholiast also informs us that Molon had a contemporary of the same name, who was a notorious thief. 2. A surname of Apollonius, the rhetorician of Rhodes. [Apollonius, No. 3.] [C. P. M.] MOLORCHUS (M<Jopxos), the mythical founder of Molorchia, near Nemea, was a poor man of Cleonae, who hospitably received Heracles when he went out to slay the Nemean lion. (Stephan. Byzant. s. v. Mohopxia ; Apollod. ii, 5. § 1.) , [L. S.] MOLOSSUS (Moo(T(t6s), a son of Pyrrhus, or Neoptolemus, and Andromache, from whom the country of Molossia was believed to have derived its name. (Paus. i. 11. § 1 ; Schol. ad Find. Nem. vii. bQ ; Serv. ad Acn. iii. 297.) [L. S.] 4ii 4