45 



M.ECIANUS, LUCIUS VOLUSIUS. 



MAGENDIE, FRANCOIS. 



48 



testimony of many ancient writers, they were written in a very artificial 

 and affected manner. (Suet., ' Ootav.,' c. 86 ; Sen., ' Epiat.' 114 ; Tac., 

 ' Dial, de Orat.,' e. 26, who speaks of the ' calamistroa Msecenatis.') 

 They consisted of poems, tragedies (one entitled ' Prometheus,' and 

 another ' Octavia'). a history of the wars of Augustus (Hor., 'Carm.' ii. 

 12, 9), and a symposium, in which Virgil and Horace were introduced. 

 The few fragments which remain of these works have been collected 

 and published by Lion under the title of ' Mxcenatiana, sive de C. 

 Cilnii Msecenatis Vita et Moribus,' Gb'ttingen, 1824. 



M.ECIA'NUS, LUCIUS VOLUSIUS, a Roman jurist, who lived 

 in the time of Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius. He was one of 

 the legal advisers of Antoninus (Capitoliuus, ' Anton. Pius,' 12), and one 

 of the instructors of Aurelius in law (Capitolinus, 'Ant. Philosoph.' 3). 

 He was held in high estimation by Aurelius, as appears from a Rescript 

 of the Divi Fratreg, in which he is styled their friend and a most 

 careful student of the Civil Law ('Dig.' 37, tit. 14, s. 17). He was 

 also a friend of the jurist Julianas. It is conjectured that he was 

 made governor of Alexandria by Aurelius, for Vulcatius Gallicauus, in 

 his Life of Avidius Cassins (c. 7), mentions a Micciamn who was put 

 to death there by the army for joining in the rebellion of Avidius 

 Cassius. The writings of Maecianua which are mentioned in the Floren- 

 tine Index are sixteen books on Fideicommiasa, and fourteen on Judicia 

 Publica. There are forty-four excerpts from Mxcianus in the Digest. 

 His Libri Qurestionum are also mentioned in the Digest ('29, tit. 2. 8. 

 86); and a commentary, or something of the kind, on the Lex Khodia 

 de Jactu (' Dig.' 14, tit. 2, a. 9). Slsecianus is cited by Papiuiauus, 

 Ulpianus, and Paul us. 



An extant treatise, 'Da Asse et Ponderibus,' U supposed by some 

 writers to belong to another author of the game name. 

 MAES, NICOLAS. [MAAS.] 



M^aTLIN, MICHAEL, a German astronomer, born about the 

 year 1542, probably at Tubingen, in Wirtemberg, at the university of 

 which place he held the appointment of professor of mathematics. 

 While resident in Italy he became acquainted with Galilei, whose 

 conversion from the doctrine of Ptolemajus to that of Copernicus is 

 partly attributed by some authorities to the argument! adduced by 

 Mseatlin in favour of the latter. Upon his return to Germany he 

 became tutor to Kepler, to whom he behaved with marked liberality ; 

 for notwithstanding the great benefit which Kepler must have derived 

 from his instruction, he declined accepting any pecuniary remuneration 

 whatever ; indeed Kepler does not appear to have been wanting in 

 gratitude towards him, for both in his ' Mysterium Cosmographicum," 

 and in a letter prefixed to the ' Narrative of Rheticus,' he acknow- 

 ledges the great encouragement he had invariably received from his 

 tutor; and at a later period, when struggling with disappointment 

 and poverty, he presented him with a handsome silver cup, bearing an 

 appropriate inscription. Msestlia died at Tubingen, in 1590. His 

 published works are : 1, ' De Stella nova.' 2, ' Ephemerides, accord- 

 ing to the Prutenic Tables by Erasmus Remold,' 1551. 3, ' Thesis de 

 Eclipsibus.' 4, 'Observatio et Demonstratio ComeUa anni 1577 et 

 1578,' Tubinir., 1578, 4to. 5, ' Consideratio et Observatio Cometao,' 

 15 SO; Heidelb., 1581. 6, 'Alterum Examen Gregorian! Kalendarii,' 

 Tubing, 1586, 4to. 7, 'Epitome Astronomies,' Tubing., 1597, 1610, &c. 



MAFFK'I, SCIPIO'NE, Marquis, born at Verona in 1675, of a 

 noble family, was educated in the college of Parma, and showed an 

 early aptitude for poetry and literature in general. When the war 

 of the Spanish succession broke out, he entered as a volunteer the 

 Bavarian service, in which his brother Alessandro Maffei held the 

 rank of g>neral. After passing some time in Germany he left the 

 army fur Italy with the view of devoting himself entirely to. study. 

 He wrote upon many and various subjects, and he gen- rally wrote 

 well. His principal worka are 1, ' La Merope,' a tragedy, the first 

 written in Italian which deserves the name; it was received with 

 great applause, and went through seventy editions in the author's 

 lifetime. 2, ' Verona Illustrate,' which is the principal work of Mallei, 

 and full of antiquarian and historical learning. The first part contains 

 a history of Verona from its foundation to the time of Charlemagne ; 

 the second is a literary history of Verona, with biographical notices 

 of tho native writers ; the third is a stranger's guide to all the 

 remarkable objects in Verona and its neighbourhood ; in the fourth 

 the author illustrates the Roman amphitheatre in that city, which is 

 one of the bent preserved remain* of the kind. The whole work is 

 written in a spirit of sound criticUm, and exhibits the various features 

 of the social, political, and intellectual state of that part of Italy 

 during a long course of ages. 3, ' UelU vcienza chiamata Cavallereaca 

 libfi tre',' dedicated to 1'ope Clement XI., iu which he combats the 

 absurdity of duelling. 4, Three treatises against, the belief, then still 

 prevalent, in magic: 'Arts ilagica dileguata,' 1749; ' Ar'.e Magica 

 distrutta,' 17.~>U ; ' Arte Magica annichilata,' 1754. Mallei was charged 

 by one Tartarotti with being almost an infidel because he did not 

 believe in sorcery. 6, 'Trattato dei Teatri antiohi e moderni,' in 

 which be took up the defence of theatrical performers against the 

 denunciations of Father Concina, a Dominican, wjio attributed to 

 them all the corruption of the age. Pope Benedict XIV., in a brief 

 dated the 5th of October 1750, addressed to Maffei, testified his full 

 approbation of this defence, saying that "theatres ought not to be 

 suppressed, but that the performance! ought to be as much as possible 

 honest and decorous." 



Maffei had a controversy with the Jansenists on account of some* 

 thing which he wrote concerning the bull Unigenitus ; and alao 

 because he maintained, against two priests of Verona named Ballerini, 

 that it was lawful to receive a moderate interest on a loan of money, 

 'Impiego del Danaro.' The Jansenist party, which was powerful in 

 North Italy, prevailed on the Venetian senate to exile Maffei, who was 

 then seventy years of age. But the senate soon perceived their error, 

 and Maffei was honourably re-called after four months, and re-entered 

 Verona in triumph. 



Maffei, in union with Vallisnicri and Zeno, originated the first 

 literary journal which appeared in Italy, 'Giornale dei Letterati,' 

 begun in 1710, and which was continued till 1730. After the dis- 

 continuance of that journal he wrote a sort of continuation of it 

 under the name of ' Osservazioni Letterarie,' of which he published 

 six volumes. 



In 1733 Maffei visited France, where he collected the materials for 

 his work, ' Galluc Antiquitates,' which he afterwards published. He 

 was numbered among the members of the Academy of Inscriptions. 

 From France he visited England, and was well received at the court 

 of George II., especially by the Prince of Wales, who was very fond of 

 Italian literature. He was made a member of the Royal Society, and 

 the University of Oxford, which he also visited, conferred on him 

 the degree of LL.D. He travelled through Holland and Germany, 

 and returned to Italy after an absence of four years. 



Maffei died at Verona in the year 1755, being eighty years of age, 

 with the well-merited reputation of one of the first Italian scholars 

 of the 18th century. 



There is another but much older writer of the same name, GIOVAKNI 

 MAFFEI, who wrote a ' History of the East Indies,' in Latin, in sixteen 

 books, of which an Italian translation was published at Florence 

 in 1589. 



MAGALHAENS, FERNANDO, commonly but incorrectly called 

 MAGKLLAN, was one of the most distinguished sea-officers of his 

 time, and as a navigator and discoverer only inferior to Columbus. 

 He was born about 1470, in some place in Alemtejo, and entered the 

 Portuguese navy at an early age. Ha was afterwards sent to the 

 East Indies, where he served for five years under Alfonso Albu- 

 querque, and distinguished himself at the conquest of the town of 

 Malacca in 1511. He afterwards returned to Europe, either from 

 discontent, because the recompense which he thought due to his 

 services, and which he had demanded, had been refused, or through 

 fear of punishment for having embezzled some money intrusted to 

 him. Being desirous to distinguish himself by some great euterprise, 

 and finding that the numerous voyages to America had made it 

 evident that this continent extended to a great distance towards the 

 south, and being at the same time aware that the Moluccas, or Spice 

 Islands, discovered a few years before, were situated much farther to 

 the west, he revived the idea of Columbus of sailing to Asia by a 

 westerly course. According to some authorities he proposed the 

 enterprise to King Emanuel, who rejected it ; but others assert that 

 he made the proposal iu the first instance to the court of Spain, where 

 it was favourably received by Cardinal Ximenea, the regent, and 

 afterwards approved by the emperor Charles V. A squadron of five 

 vessels, with 236 men on board, was fitted out for that purpose, and 

 Magalhaens left San Lucar de Barameda on the 20th of September 

 1519. His object being to discover a strait or open sea, which would 

 take him to the Moluccas, he directed his course with great judgment 

 to the southern shores of Brazil, and entered tho La Plata River, but 

 he was soon convinced that it was not a strait. He then sailed south- 

 ward, along the eastern coast of America, and was obliged to pass the 

 winter in the harbour of Sau Julian (near 50 S. lat), where a con- 

 spiracy was formed against him. In detecting and putting down this 

 conspiracy he showed great sagacity, prudence, and resolution. He 

 discovered and entered the strait, which bean his name, about the 

 end of October 1520, and reached its western extremity on the 27th 

 of November, when he entered the Pacific Ocean. He navigated the 

 Pacific for threo months and twenty days without finding an island, 

 but during this course he enjoyed continuous fair weather, with such 

 favourable winds, that he bestowed on this ocean the name of Pacific, 

 which it still bears. The length of the voyage however reduced the 

 crew to the greatest distress for want of food, and they began to 

 suffer alao from the scurvy. On the 6th of March 1521, Magalhaens 

 arrived at a group of islands, which he called Los Ladrones, from the 

 inclination to theft which the inhabitants displayed. After having 

 refreshed his crew, he continued his course westward, and discovered 

 the extensive group of the Philippines, which he called tho archip lago 

 of Sau Lazaro. He induced a chieftain of the island of Zeba to 

 acknowledge the sovereignty of the King of Spain, promising to assist 

 him in subduing his enemies. With this view he undertook an expe- 

 dition against the chieftain of the small island of Matan, but he was 

 courageously resisted by the inhabitants, and killed in the contest. 

 The command of his vessels devolved on Juan Sebastian del Cano, 

 who conducted them to the Moluccas, aud thence to Spain. 



MAGKNDIE, FRANCOIS, a distinguished French physician and 

 physiologist. Although his father practised as a physician iu Paris, 

 he was born at Bordeaux on the 15th of October 1783. He was soon after 

 brought to Paris, where he had the misfortune to lose his mother. 

 His lather took an active part in the revolutionary movements of the 



