MITHRIDATES MNEMONICS. 



reconquered the greatest part of Pontus, Bithynia, 

 Cappadocia, and Armenia Minor. Pompe.y then 

 appeared at the head of the Roman army. After 

 he had in vain offered him peace, and sought a 

 decisive battle, he besieged Mithridates in his 

 camp, not far from the Euphrates. The king- 

 thence retreated, but was pursued, attacked in a 

 defile, and totally routed at Nicopolis (B. C. 66); 

 he escaped witli only 800 horse. Tigranes would 

 not receive him, and he fled to Colchis. Pompey 

 followed him, and he took refuge in the dominions of 

 a Scythian prince. He was now thought to be dead, 

 until he suddenly reappeared in Pontus, collected 

 troops, and, at the same time, offered terms of peace 

 to Pompey; they could not, however, agree, and the 

 war broke out afresh. The force of the Romans in 

 Pontus was small, and Mithridates made some pro- 

 gress. The inhabitants, however, soon revolted from 

 him, and his neighbours refused him their assistance; 

 nevertheless, his unbending- spirit rejected the pro- 

 posals of peace made by Pompey. He put to death 

 his son Machares, made himself king in Bosphorus, 

 and formed the bold project of penetrating into Gaul 

 (where he had sent ambassadors) at the head of his 

 army, and marching, with the inhabitants, into Italy; 

 but, having encamped at the Cimmerian Bosphorus, 

 an insurrection broke out in his army, at the head of 

 which was his son Pharnazes. Unable to reduce the 

 rebels to their duty, and having taken poison without 

 effect, Mithridates threw himself upon his sword, that 

 he might not fall alive into the hands of the Romans 

 (B. C. 64.) This celebrated monarch ruled Pontus 

 fifty-nine years. 



MITHRIDATES; the title given to the Allge- 

 meine Sprachenkunde of Adelung and Vater, in 

 which the Lord's prayer is exhibited in nearly five 

 hundred languages and dialects. See Vater. 



MI'lilA ; a head-dress of the ancient Persian 

 kings. See Infula. 



Mitra ; the ancient Persian goddess of love. 



MITRE (Greek purga), in costume ; a sacerdotal 

 ornament, worn on the head by bishops and certain 

 abbots on solemn occasions, being a sort of cap, 

 pointed and cleft at top. The high priest among 

 the Jews wore a mitre, or bonnet, on his head. The 

 inferior priests of that nation had likewise their mitres, 

 but in what particulars they differed from that worn 

 by the high priest, is not now certain. Some writers 

 contend that the earlier bishops wore mitres; but this 

 circumstance is also enveloped in a good deal of 

 doubt. Among the primitive followers of Christianity, 

 there was a class of young women who professed a 

 state of virginity, and were solemnly consecrated 

 thereto. These wore a purple and golden mitre, as 

 a badge of distinction. His holiness the pope uses 

 four different mitres, which are more or less rich, 

 adorned according to the nature of the festivals on 

 which they are assumed. The cardinals formerly 

 wore mitres, and some canons of cathedrals in Roman 

 Catholic countries have the privilege of wearing the 

 initre, which is also borne by several families of dis- 

 tinction in Germany as their crest. But we must 

 look back into remoter ages, in order to find the 

 origin of the use of the mitre. It would seem to have 

 obtained primarily in India. According to several 

 authors, it was first a part of female costume, and 

 when worn by a man was considered as indicative of 

 effeminacy. The fillet, with which Bacchus is often 

 represented as having his head bound, has been de- 

 nominated mitrephora. A peculiar kind of head- 

 dress, covering the whole head, is often found 

 depicted on ancient coins, &c., with pendents, or 

 pointed dewlaps, by means of which, perhaps, this 

 kind of mitre was tied under the chin. This was 

 probably the Phrygian mitre ; for we fold Paris with 



this head-dress on a gem published by Natter, and 

 subsequently by Winckelmann, in his Monumentt 

 Inediti (No. 112). Priam, and the Ama/xms, upon 

 the Homeric monuments, and the Parthian kings, 

 upon several medals, have a similar mitre. The 

 mitre is very frequently met with in early Christian 

 manuscripts, in illuminated missals, and upon the 

 oldest ecclesiastical monuments; this, however, might 

 be expected, since its usage has always been princi- 

 pally ecclesiastical. A statue of St Peter, erected in 

 the seventh century, bears this mark of distinction, in 

 the shape of a round, high, and pyramidal mitre, such 

 as those worn by each of the popes since. Perhaps this 

 statue offers one of the earliest instances of its usage 

 in the Christian churches. See Infula, and Tiara. 



MITTAU (in Lettonian, Jelgava) ; a city of Russia; 

 chief city of the government of Mittau (see Courland), 

 lat. 56 39' N.; ion. 23 43' E. It is situated in a 

 low and marshy country, about nine leagues from 

 Riga. The population is 12,000, composed of Rus- 

 sians, Germans, Lettonians.and Jews. The old ram- 

 parts have been destroyed. It contains numerous 

 charitable and literary institutions. The old castle, 

 founded by the duke Ernest John, was occupied by 

 Louis XVIII. for several years. Mittau, the ancient 

 residence of the dukes of Couvland, was captured by 

 the Swedes in 1701, and recovered by the Russians 

 in 1706. 



MITTIMUS; a writ by which records are trans- 

 ferred from one court to another. The precept 

 directed to a gaoler, under the hand and seal of a 

 justice of the peace, for the receiving and safe keep- 

 ing of a felon, or other offender, by him committed 

 to gaol, is also called a mittimus. 



MIZZEN ; the aftermost or hindermost of the fixed 

 sails of a ship. 



MIZZEN MAST ; the mast which supports all the 

 after sails. See Ship. 



MNEMONICS (from the Greek fivnptnivu , to re- 

 member); the art of assisting the memory. In the 

 article Memory, the liveliness with which ideas are 

 often recalled by accidental associations, has been 

 spoken of. This very naturally led men to attach 

 ideas, words, &c., purposely, to certain things familiar 

 to the mind,, in order to be assisted by the latter in re- 

 membering the former. One kind of mnemonics, and 

 perhaps the earliest, is to attach the idea to be remem- 

 bered to some impression of the senses, such as the 

 external objects which are most familiar to our eyes 

 {topology, from ra-ras, place) : some persons make 

 use of a picture, arbitrarily drawn, to which they 

 attach the subjects to be remembered, in a certain 

 order (symbolics, from <rw^SaXa, mark); others make 

 use of numbers. There are certain natural aids to 

 the memory, which we all employ ; for instance, if 

 we put a piece of paper in a conspicuous spot of our 

 room, or make a knot in a handkerchief, in order to 

 be reminded of certain things at particular times. 

 As to topology, an orator who intends to deliver a 

 long speech without notes, may derive assistance 

 from previously entering the room where he is to 

 speak, and attaching in his mind to certain prominent 

 objects in the room the chief heads of his speech. 

 To remember dates, several methods have been de- 

 vised. The one proposed in Gray's Memoria Tech- 

 nica is to make certain changes in the names of 

 persons, places, &c., in such a way that the words 

 shall signify also certain numbers, according to a 

 plan previously adopted. A table must be drawn 

 up, similar to the following : , 



a e i o u au oi ei ou y 

 : 2345 6 7890 

 b d t f I s p k n x 



If we now wish to impress in, our memory that Julius 



