Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XI.djvu/393

MEMPHKEMAGOG MENANDER 381 Cairo. Its foundation is ascribed to Menes, the first king of Egypt ; it was certainly very ancient, and was the first capital of the united kingdom of Upper and Lower Egypt. Its sit- uation commanded the S. entrance to the del- ta, and it was protected by a dike from the inundations of the Nile. According to Dio- dorus, Memphis was about 17 m. in circuit, but probably this included much open ground. It was remarkable for its fine climate and the beauty of the view from its walls. It con- trolled the inland trade of Egypt, ascending or descending the Nile. It was the chief seat of learning and of religion, the principal place of the worship of the god Ptah, and the cho- sen residence of the sacred bull Apis, whose temple here was celebrated for its colonnades through which the great processions were con- ducted. The other great temples were : that of Isis, commenced at a very early period, and completed by Amasis, 564 B. 0. ; the temple of Serapis, to which was attached a Nilome- ter, in the western quarter of the city; the temple of Phra or the sun ; and the temple of Ptah, the most ancient of all, and the largest and most superb. Memphis was the seat of successive dynasties, the 3d, 4th, 5th, 7th, and 8th of Egyptian history, who (according to Mariette) reigned, with one interval of 203 years, from 4449 to 3358 B. 0. By the 4th dynasty the great pyramids were built. It was also the capital during the supremacy of the shepherd kings. It suffered severely from the Persians, who avenged the murder of their her- ald by the Memphians. They made it the head- quarters of a Persian garrison ; and Cambyses compelled Psammetik III., the last of the Pha- raohs, to kill himself, slew the sacred Apis with his own hand, massacred the priests, and pro- faned the temple of Ptah. The Persians made it the metropolis of their African possessions, and it continued to be the chief city of Egypt until the foundation of Alexandria, after which it gradually declined, and in the course of ages sunk into such utter decay that its very site, overwhelmed with drifted sand, was a matter of dispute among antiquaries. Modern re- searches have proved that the village of Mitra- henny or Mitranieh, S. of Gizeh, marks the site of Memphis. Its remains extend over many hundred acres of ground, and include ruins of temples and of palaces, and statues, bass re- liefs, and inscriptions, to the number of sev- eral thousand. MEMPHREMAGOG, Lake, a body of water, about 35 m. long from N. to S. and from 2 to 5 m. wide, situated partly in Vermont and partly in Quebec, Canada. It discharges through Magog river into the St. Francis, and thence into the St. Lawrence. The surround- ing scenery is picturesque. Along the W. shore are several mountains, prominent among which are Owl's Head, Elephantis, and the Sugar Loaf; the E. shore presents a pleasing contrast. The lake is studded with islands, and abounds in fine fish. Near its head is the village of Newport, and at its outlet Magog, between which a steamer plies in summer, accommodating the numerous visitors. MENAGE, Gilles, a French author, born in Angers, Aug. 15, 1613, died in Paris, July 23, 1692. After practising law for a short time he became a priest, and lived for a while with Cardinal de Retz, but finally established him- self in a house in the cloister of Notre Dame, where on Wednesdays he entertained numbers of wits and scholars. His wit and erudition became celebrated ; his quarrels, his social rela- tions, and the epigrams and witticisms which they called forth, are prominent in the literary history of the 17th century. He wrote, among other works, Origines de la langue franpais (1650), enlarged and published as Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue franfaise (1694) ; Poemata Latina, Gallica, Grceca et Italica (1658) ; and Anti-Baillet (1685). After his death his friends published, under the title of Menagiana, a collection of his witticisms and table talk. The best edition is that by La Monnoye (2 vols., 1693-'4). The second part of his Histoire de Sable (1st part, 1686) was edited from the manuscript and published by J. B. Haureau in 1873. MENAI STRAIT, a narrow channel of Wales, which separates the island of Anglesea from Carnarvonshire. Its direction is nearly S. W. and N. E., its length about 13 m., and its breadth from 200 yards to 2 m. The naviga- tion of this strait in some places is difficult and hazardous ; but as the passage saves time and distance, vessels of 100 tons, and sometimes larger, pass through it. The first and last por- tions of each ebb and flow run in contrary directions in this strait, and the tides are very high, at the equinox sometimes rising to 30 ft. The Menai channel is crossed by two bridges about a mile apart, the Menai suspen- sion bridge and the Britannia bridge. (See BRIDGE, vol. iii., pp. 274, 275.) MENANDER, an Athenian dramatic poet, born in 342 B. 0., died in 291. Alexis, the comic poet, was his paternal uncle, Theophrastus his preceptor, and Epicurus his intimate friend. Little is known of his life. His comedies gained him the patronage of Demetrius Pha- lereus, and of the first Ptolemy, who invited him to his court at Alexandria ; this invitation he declined. His intimacy with Demetrius Phalereus involved him in danger after the expulsion of that statesman from Athens by Demetrius Poliorcetes; and he would have been put to death but for the intercession of Telesphorus, son-in-law of the latter. He is said to have been drowned while swimming in the harbor of Piraeus. The Athenians raised a monument to his memory beside that of Eu- ripides, and placed his statue in the theatre. Menander was the greatest poet of the new comedy, which he purified from the coarseness and buffoonery of the old. His comedies, which were very numerous, maintained their place on the stage for some centuries, and were models