MEMPHIS 



MENCIUS 



131 



the Hyksos after the 13th anil before the 18th 

 (1300 B.C.). At this period Memphis was ruled 

 by a viceroy, a prince of the blood, and still re- 

 mained a religious capital. It rose again to great 

 importance under the Sa'ite inonarchs, about 600 

 B.C., who restored it ; and it was conquered by Sen- 

 nacherib. Its temples were magnificent, and^ com- 

 prised the Iseum, a large temple of Isis, completed 

 by Amasis II. just prior to Cambyses (525 B.C.); 

 a temple dedicated to Proteus, in the foreign 

 quarter ; the temple of the Apis, having a peri- 

 style and court ornamented with figures, opposite 

 the south propylanim of the temple of Ptah, where 

 the sacred bull resided ; the Serapeum, or temple 

 of Si-rapis, discovered by M. Mariette ; the Nilo- 

 meter; a temple of Ka ; and the shrine of the 

 Cabiri. Here were the statues of Kameses II., one 

 of which is known as 'the fallen colossus,' at 

 Mitrahenny. Still more remarkable was the great 

 necropolis of the city, in the centre of which 

 towered the pyramids (see PYRAMIDS). During 

 the attempts of the native rulers to throw off the 

 Persian rule, Memphis was an important strategic 

 point. Ochus inflicted severe injury on this town, 

 having plundered the temples and thrown down 

 the walls after he had driven out Nectanebes. 

 Alexander the Great here worshipped the Apis, 

 and his corjise was brought to this city by Ptolemy 

 before it was finally transferrt>d to Alexandria. 

 The first Ptolemies were crowned in the Serai>eum. 

 Ptolemy VIII. destroyed the city, and it fell with 

 the rest of Egypt under the Roman rule, and after- 

 wards was conquered by 'Amr ibn el-Asi (640 

 A.D.). Its ruins, which served as quarries for 

 later buildings, were large and important in the 

 13th century, when they were seen by Abd-ul- 

 Latif ; but little is now to be seen beyond deeply- 

 buried walls. See works cited at EUYPT. 



Memphis, a city and port of entry of Tennes- 

 S'M., stands on a high bluff on the east bank of the 

 Mississippi Kiver, 826 miles above New Orleans, 

 and 230 miles by rail \VS\V. of Nashville. The 

 river to this point is navigable for the largest sea- 

 going vessels, and eight lines of railway terminate 

 Here ; the trade of Memphis is accordingly very 

 large. It is a handsome town, with wide, regular 

 streets, and great warehouses Ixmlering the esplan- 

 ade that extends along the bluff. The public build- 

 ings include a custom -house, cotton exchange, a large 

 hospital, a Koman Catholic college, and numerous 

 churches. Memphis is one of the first cotton marts 

 in the United States, and has numerous manufac- 

 tories. The city was visited by fearful epidemics 

 of yellow fever in 1878 and 1879, since when its 

 drainage has lieen reconstructed. A great steel 

 cantilever railway bridge across the Mississippi 

 was opened in 1892 ; it has five spans, and a total 

 length of 1886 feet. Pop. (1850) 8841; (1870) 

 40,226 ; ( 1880) 33,592 ; ( 1900) 102,320. 



Mcnarto. See CELEBES. 



Mi'nage, GILES, a French writer, born at 

 Angers in 1613, gave up the bar for the church, 

 but chiefly spent his time in literary pursuits. He 

 bonded, in opposition to the Academy, a salon, 

 tli.' Mercuriales, which gained him a European 

 reputation, and the ridicule of Moliere as Vadius in 

 f'emntfit Sni-niilr.t. His /iiftimniriire tymolomr/ne 

 de la Langne Frrtn^nixe (1650; liest ed. by .fault, 

 2 vols. 1750), and his Origini delta Lingua Italiinirt 

 (1609), are erudite works, but contain many fanci- 

 ful etymologies. He died in 1692. See Life by 

 Baret (Paris, 1859). 



Mriuii Strait, a channel between Carnarvon- 

 shire and the island of Anglesey, running east- 

 north cast from its southern extremity to Bnngor, 

 a ditari< of 14 miles, where it widens out into 

 BeaninarU Bay. Its width varies from about 200 



yards to 2 miles, whilst the scenery on both sides 

 is very picturesque. The navigation is hazardous, 

 but for the sake of expedition vessels under 100 

 tons, and occasionally some of larger size, pass 

 through the strait. At its entrance the tides some- 

 times rise to a height of 30 feet ; ordinary neap- 

 tides, however, do not rise more than from 12 to 

 15^ feet. Communication between the mainland 

 and Anglesey was formerly solely maintained by 

 ferry-boats at different points, but since 1825 access 

 has been afforded by a suspension bridge, and since 

 1850 by the Britannia Britlge. See BRIDGE. 

 Menaui. Sec SIAM. 



Mcnander, the most famous Greek poet of 

 the New Comedy, was born at Athens in 342 B.C., 

 and was drowned at the Pinvns in 291. He was 

 the friend, if not the pupil, of Theophrastus, him- 

 self a disciple of Plato and Aristotle ; and he was 

 the intimate of Epicurus, and the favourite of 

 Demetrius Phalereus and Ptolemy the son of 

 Lagus. His comedies seem to have l>een more suc- 

 cessful with cultured than with popular audiences, 

 for we are told that only eight out of a hundred 

 comedies gained the prize. Unhappily we possess 

 but fragments of his work, but we may safely take 

 our estimate of the 'nuindus Menander' from his 

 close copyist and imitator, Terence, and from the 

 words of such writers as Ovid, Propertius, and 

 Pliny. The Attic New Comedy was essentially 

 domestic rather than political in character, and its 

 chief figures are conveniently summed up in the 

 lines of Ovid : 



Dtim fallax servus, dnrus pater. Improba lena 

 Vivet, iluin meretrix blamla, Mcnanilros erit 



His most famous comedy seems to have lieen the 

 Thaii, and it is interesting that of the five lines 

 preserved one is quoted by St Paul ( 1 Cor. xv. 33). 

 Of the GmrffOt, hitherto known but by five small 

 fragments, Professor Nicole published 87 lines, newly 

 recovered, in 1897. See the edition of the (reorgos by 

 Granfell and Hunt (1898>. 



See MENSCHIKOFF. 

 the Latin form of MENO-TSE, the 

 name of a Chinese noge, a contemporary of Plato 

 and Aristotle, who was born in the province of 

 Shan-tung in 372 B.C. He was brought up by his 

 mother the pattern of all mothers ever since in 

 the eyes of the Chinese and founded a school on 

 the model of that of his great predecessor Con- 

 fucius, for whom Mencius entertained a feeling of 

 reverent admiration. When forty years of age he 

 led out his disciples and travelled from one princely 

 court to another during more than twenty years, 

 seeking a ruler who would put into practice his 

 system of social and political order. But, findiim 

 none, he again withdrew into retirement, and died 

 in 289 B.C. After his death his disciples collected 

 his conversations and exhortations, and published 

 them as the Book of Meng tse. The aim of 

 Mencius' teaching was essentially practical : how 

 men, especially the rulers of men, shall best regu- 

 late their conduct, both public and private. Ihe 

 philosophic root of his system is belief in the 

 ethical goodness of man's nature, which quality 

 he takes to l>e the essential characteristic of the 

 humanity of men. From this root grow the 

 cardinal virtues of benevolence, righteousness, 

 moral wisdom, and propriety of conduct. It 

 should be the aim of the individual to perfect 

 himself by practising these virtues in all the 

 relations of his social and political life. The 

 flowering of this goodly plant which Menciui 

 planted for the ordering of the lives of men, both 

 individual and collective, assumed the form of a 

 liberal and enlightened system of political economy. 

 Amongst other things he advocated freedom of 



