409 



MUS^US. 



MUSGRAVE, SAMUEL, M.D. 



410 



the Pyrenees, a messenger from the kalif Alwalid, who now became 

 alarmed at M lisa's increase of power, reached his camp, and sum- 

 moned him, together with Tiirik, to the royal presence. 



Turik hastened to obey the orders of the kalif, and departed imme- 

 diately for the East (September 713); but Musa who, if any faith 

 can be placed in the Arabian writers, had conceived the ambitious 

 project of subduing Gaul, Italy, and Germany, and forcing his way 

 from Spain to Constantinople, thus conuectiug the eastern and western 

 possessions of the Arabs refused to comply with the summons. 

 Having prevailed upon the envoy Mugheyth to accompany him in his 

 conquests, by promising him a large share of the spoil, he directed 

 his course towards Asturias and Gallicia, which the Moslems had not 

 yet visited. But his reluctance to obey the imperial mandate added 

 to the suspicions already entertained about his views, which were 

 represented as aiming at independence, and a more peremptory order 

 was sent for his return. The kalif s second messenger, whose name 

 was Abu Na-r, reached him at Lugo, in Gallicia, caught the bridle of 

 his horse, and, in presence of the army, commanded him to repair to 

 Damascus. Mua did not venture to disobey the order of the kalif, 

 and, entrusting the government of Spain to his sou Abdulaziz, reluc- 

 tantly commenced his journey in March 714. 



On arriving in Africa, where he made some stay, he confirmed his 

 son Abdullah in his government of Cairwau, gave to his son Abdulola 

 the command of Tangier and other important fortresses on the coast, 

 and taking the road to Egypt, proceeded to Syria with a numerous 

 escort, and long trains of camels heavily laden with the spoil of the 

 conquest, besides being followed by thousands of captives, among 

 whom were 400 gothic nobles sumptuously arrayed. Mi'isa did not 

 reach Syria until the end of 714 or the beginning of 715. Tarik had 

 arrived many months before, and not only had justified himself against 

 the charges brought against him, but had succeeded in throwing all 

 the blame upon Miisa. To this must be added that Al-walid was then 

 suffering under an acute disease, which soon after caused his death, BO 

 that Musa's reception was nut so brilliant as he had anticipated. But 

 if Al-walid's treatment of the man who had added so rich a jewel to 

 his crown was tainted with deep ingratitude, that of his brother and 

 successor Suleyuiiiu was not only unjust but cruel. It is generally 

 asserted that while Musi and his escort were approaching the capital, 

 he received from that prince an intimation not to enter Damascus in 

 his brother's lifetime, but to delay his entrance until the commence- 

 ment of the new reign, in order that the Spanish treasures and 

 captives might grace his accession. This command, Musa, from 

 motives of fidelity towards his sovereign, imprudently disregarded ; 

 and on the accession of Suleymdn, remained exposed to all his ven- 

 geance. He was cast into prison, beaten with rods, exposed to the 

 sun uutil he was nearly dead, and lastly, fined 200,000 pieces of gold, 

 a sum which all his treasures amassed in Spain were insufficient to 

 satisfy, and which was raised among his friends. Suleymiu'a ven- 

 geance did not stop there : the two SODS whom Musa had left to 

 govern Africa in his absence were deprived of their government*, and 

 order.) were despatched to Spain (August, 716) to put to death Abdula- 

 ziz, whose head was brought to Damascus and shown to his disconso- 

 late father by Suleymdn himself, who asked him, with a bitter smile, 

 if he recognised it. The afflicted father turned away at the sight, 

 exclaiming, " Cursed be he who has slain a better man than himself." 



Muaa died in the greatest poverty at Wddi-1-kora, in the Hejuz, in 

 717, at the age of seventy-nine lunar or Arabian years. 



(Conde, Uitt. de la Uom., Mad., 1820-21 ; Cardonne, Uutoire de 

 iAfri'jue, Paris, 1765 ; The History of the Mohammedan Umpire in 

 Xpain, London, 1*16; Casiri, ttM. Arab. Hup. Ec., Madrid, 1760; 

 Ibn Khallekan, Wajiyatu-l-a'ydn (or the ' Lives of Illustrious Mos- 

 lems'), manuscript ; Al-makkari, and other historians of Mohammedan 

 Spain.) 



M I'S.TCTS. Two, if not more, Greek poets of this name are known. 

 1. The oldest of them lived in the mystic ages of Greece, and is said 

 to have been by birth an Athenian, and the son, or at least the disciple, 

 of Orpheus. Plato and Hermeaionax, in a passage quoted by Atheuaeus 

 (xiii. 597), state him to have been the son of Selene, or the moon. 

 Diogenes Laurtius says that he was buried at Phalerum, and mentions 

 his epitaph. His works, which are lost, have been quoted by Plato, 

 Plfilostratus, Pausanias, -Clemens Alexandrinus, and other ancient 

 writers : they consisted of religious hymns, a poem on the war of the 

 giants, a theogony, a work of inynteries, and moral precepts to his son. 

 A few scattered lines, gathered from the quotations of the above 

 writers, were inserted by Henry Etieune in his collection of philoso- 

 phical poetry. 



2. Muateus, styled the Grammarian in the manuscript, is the author 

 of the very interesting Greek poem entitled ' Hero and Leander.' The 

 age in which the author lived has been a subject of much dispute. 

 Kcaliger, against all probability, ascribed the poem to the Mussous of 

 the mythic ages. The most general opinion is, that he lived in the 

 lower ages of the Roman empire. Schrader, Schoell, and other critics 

 suppose him to have lived in the 5th century of our era, and to have 

 been a contemporary of Nonnus, the author of the ' Dionysiaca.' 

 (Schroder's 'Preface' to his edition of Musnous, Leeuwarden, 1742.) 

 The poem of ' Hero and Leander ' was first discovered about the 13th 

 century. It consists of 340 hexameter lines, which contaiu the whole 

 account of the beginning of the lovea of Leander and Hero, the daring 



of the former in swimming by night across the strait from Abydos to 

 Sestos, to visit his mistress, and the tragical end of both lovers. Ovid 

 has treated the same subject in Latin verse in one of his Heroides, in 

 which Hero writes to Leander to urge him to swim across the Helles- 

 pont, as formerly, although the winter had set in, and yet at the same 

 time expresses her fears of his risking his life. The story appears to 

 have been an old tradition of a real fact. The poem of Musaeus has 

 been a favourite with scholars, and has been repeatedly published, 

 commented on, and translated into various languages. Heinrich's 

 edition, Hanover, 1793, and Schitfer's edition, Greek and Latin, Leipzig, 

 1825, which is an improved republicatiou of Schrader's edition already 

 mentioned, are among the best. The poem has been translated into 

 Italian by Salvini, Pompei, and others; French by Marot, Gail, and 

 Mollevant, Paris, 1305; English, with notes by Stapylton, in 1649, and 

 again in 1797 ; and into German by Passow, Leipzig, 1810. 



MUS^US, JOHANN KARL AUGUST, was born at Jena in 1 735, 

 in which university he studied theology with the intention of taking 

 orders, but did not do so. His first literary production, which 

 appeared in 1760, was his 'Grandison the Second,' a parody on 

 Richardson's celebrated novel, at that period extravagantly admired in 

 Germany. This satirical performance was so well received as to pass 

 through several editions ; yet, notwithstanding its success, several 

 years elapsed before the author resumed his pen as a candidate for 

 literary fame ; for, in order to eke out hia small salary as a professor 

 at the gymnasium of Weimar, he took pupils into his own house, and 

 had consequently little leisure for studious occupatiou. At length, 

 after an interval of eighteen years, he published his ' Physiognomical 

 Travels,' intended, if not as a satire upon Lavater's system, to correct 

 by wholesome ridicule the extravagant abuse of it into which his 

 countrymen had fallen. The success of this work induced him to 

 throw off his incognito and avow himself the author ; whereupon he 

 became the literary idol of the day, and was for awhile an object of 

 attraction to ' lion-hunting ' visitors, anxious to have a sight of the 

 retired schoolmaster who had mystified them by his pleasantry. This 

 sudden acquisition of celebrity and importance had no other effect 

 upon Musa'us than to encourage him to proceed. Accordingly, he 

 forthwith set about his ' Volksmiirchen der Deutachen,' or ' Popular 

 Legends of Germany,' which were actually what they professed to be, 

 for he is said, while composing them, to have collected all the stories 

 of the kind he could, from old women at their spinning-wheels, and 

 even from children in the street. But if this circumstance in some 

 measure deprives him of the merit of invention, the fascinating charm 

 of narrative with which he dressed up such homely materials, the 

 humour and naivete* which he imparted to them, were all his own. 

 The success of these popular tales was immediate and complete, for 

 they have become a classical and standard work of their kind. His 

 next production was that entitled ' Freund Heins Erscheinungen, in 

 Holbeins Manier,' a kind of literary 'Dance of Death' (Freund Hein 

 being a jocose appellation for that grim personage), where, in a series 

 of moral and satirical sketches, he shows how many human projects 

 and follies are suddenly cut short by the unwelcome yet inevitable 

 visitor. Excepting a collection of uovellettes and tales, entitled 

 ' Straussfedern,' and another for the use of children, 'Freund Hein' 

 was his last work, for he himself had his summons from him about 

 two years after, October, 28, 1787. 



In 1791 a collection of his posthumous pieces, to which was pre- 

 fixed ' Some Traits of the Life of the (rood Muszeus,' was published 

 by his pupil Augustus von Kotzebue. To the epithet so markedly 

 bestowed upon him few have had a better claim than Muscus : a mild 

 philosophy, of which his own life furnished a practical example, 

 together with shrewd good sense and quiet humour, pervades all his 

 writings. 



MUSGRAVE, WILLIAM, was born in 1657, in the county of 

 Somerset, and studied at Oxford, where he took his degree of M.D. 

 In 1684 he became secretary to the Royal Society of London. In 

 1691 he fixed his residence at Exeter, where he practised as a phy- 

 sician, and where he died in 1721. Dr. Musgrave was a good scholar, 

 and well versed in antiquity. He published 1, ' Geta Britaunicus,' 

 being the life of Geta by Capitolinus, with notes, to which he added 

 a dissertation by way of commentary. 2, ' Julii Vitalis Epitaphium, 

 cum Notis Criticis H. Dodwelli, et Commentario Guil. Musgrave.' 

 This is a commentary on a lioman epitaph found near Bath. S, 'De 

 Aquilis Romanis Epistola.' 4, ' De Legionibus Epistola.' 5, ' Belgium 

 Britaunicum, in quo illius Litnites, Fluvii, Urbes, Via; Militares, Popu- 

 lus, Lingua, Dei, Monumenta, aliaque permulta clarius et uberiua 

 exponuntur,' 8vo, 1719. He wrote also several medical works. 



MUSGRAVE, SAMUEL, M.D., the grandson of the above, also 

 practised as a physician in Exeter, and died there in 1782. Besides a 

 few works on medical subjects, lie was the author of ' Exercitationes 

 in Euripidem,' 8vo, Leyden, 1762; ' Animadversiones in Sophoclem,' 

 3 vols. 8vo, Oxford, 1800; and 'Two Dissertations 1, On the 

 Mythology of the Greeks ; 2, An Examination of Sir Isaac Newton's 

 Objections to the Chronology of the Olympiads.' Ho also assisted in 

 the edition of Euripides, 4 vols. 8vo, Oxford, 1778. Schweighauser, 

 in his edition of Appian, has cited many of Musgrave's emendations 

 and conjectures on that author from the marginal notes in Musgrave's 

 copy of Appian. Schweighaiiser justly calls him a good Greek scholar 

 and an acute critic. 



