TI2 



MENEDEMUS MENGS. 



him Iron' the Iwilcony of the palace into the street, 

 ami wns, in consequence, thrown into prison, where 

 he spent his time in writing love elegies, lie was 

 attei w:mls lianished to Granada, where he observed 

 the progress of the Moorish insurrection in the Alpu- 

 jarra mountains, and wrote the history of it. This 

 work is considered one of the best historical writings 

 in Spanish literature. He was also engaged till the 

 time of his death (1575) in translating a work of 

 Aristotle, with a commentary. His library he be- 

 queathed to the king, and it now forms one of the 

 ornaments of the Escurial. (For a criticism on his 

 writings, the reader may consult Bouterwek and 

 Sismondi.) His poetical epistles are the first classi- 

 cal models of the kind in the literature of his country. 

 They are mostly imitations of Horace, written in an 

 easy style, and with much vigour, and show the man 

 of the world. Some of them delineate domestic 

 happiness and the tenderer feelings with so much 

 truth that we can with difficulty recognise the tyrant 

 of Sienna. His sonnets are deficient in elevation, 

 grace, and harmony. His canzoni are often obscure 

 and forced. In the Spanish forms of poetry, redon- 

 tiillas, quintillas, and villancicos, he surpassed his 

 predecessors in elegance of diction. His satires, or 

 burlescas, were prohibited by the inquisition. As a 

 prose writer, he forms an epoch ; he has been called 

 the father of Spanish prose. His comic romance, 

 written while he was yet a student, J'ida de Lazar- 

 illo de Tonnes (Tarragona, 1536, continued by Luna, 

 Saragossa, 1652), has been translated into foreign 

 languages. The hero is a cunning beggar, and the 

 life of the various classes of the people is described 

 in it with great spirit and truth. The numerous 

 imitations of Lazarillo de Tormes produced a pecu- 

 liar class of writings in Spanish literature gusto 

 picarresco, so called. (See Spanish, Literature.) 

 His second great work, the History of the War of 

 Granada, may be compared with the works of Livy 

 and Tacitus. Though Mendoza does not pronounce 

 judgment, yet it is easy to see, from his relation, 

 that the severity and tyranny of Philip had driven 

 the Moors to despair. The Spanish government 

 would not, therefore, permit the printing of it till 

 1610, and then only with great omissions. 

 The first complete edition was published in 1776. 

 His complete works also appeared at Valencia, in 

 1776. 



MENEDEMUS OF ERETRIA, in Eubcea; foun- 

 der of the Eretrian school of philosophy, which 

 formed a branch of the Socratic. He was a pupil 

 of Plato and Stilpo, and ascribed truth only to identi- 

 cal propositions. Diogenes Laertius wrote his life. 

 He is said to have starved himself to death because 

 he could not engage Antigonus to restore freedom 

 to his country. 



MENELAUS; son or grandson of Atreus, and 

 brother of Agamemnon. From his father-in-law, 

 Tyndareus, whose daughter Helen he married, he 

 received the kingdom of Sparta. He was at Crete, 

 for the purpose of dividing the inheritance left by 

 his paternal grandfather, Cretus, when Paris carried 

 oft' his wife Helen, with a part of his treasures, and 

 some female slaves, and conveyed them to Troy. 

 On learning this, Menelaus, with Palamedes, went 

 to Troy, to demand satisfaction ; and this being 

 refused, he summoned the Greek princes to revenge 

 the affront, according to their promise. He himself 

 led sixty ships to Troy, and showed himself a brave 

 warrior. Homer gives him the title of Bv a.ya.6ot, on 

 account of the loudness of his cry in battle, and de- 

 scribes him as mild, brave, and wise. After the con- 

 quest of Troy, Menelaus took Helen, to return with 

 her to his native land. Eight years he wandered 

 before he reached home He first went to Tenedos, 



then to Lesbos and Eubueu but, being tossed about 

 l>y storms and tempests, he liad to land in Cypria, 

 Phoenicia, Egypt, and Libya, and was, in several 

 instances, detained for a long time. On the island 

 of Pharus, on the Egyptian coast, he surprised Pro- 

 teus asleep, by the aid of Eidothea, his daughter, and 

 impelled him to disclose the means which he must 

 take to reach home. Proteus likewise informed him 

 that he should not die, but would be translated alive 

 into Elysium, as a demigod and the husband ot Helen. 



MENES. See Hieroglyphics, division Chronologi- 

 ul Periods of Egyptian History. 



MENGS, ANTHONY RAPHAEL, one of the most dis- 

 tinguished artists of the eighteenth century, born at 

 Aussig in Bohemia, 1728, was the son of an indiffer- 

 ent Danish artist, who had settled in Dresden. From 

 the sixth year of his age, the young Raphael was 

 compelled to exercise himself in drawing, daily ami 

 hourly, and a few years later was instructed by his 

 father in oil, miniature, and enamel painting. The 

 father hardly allowed him a moment for play, set him 

 tasks, which he was required to accomplish within a 

 given time, and severely punished him if he failed. 

 In 1741, the young artist accompanied his father to 

 Rome, and studied the remains of ancient statuary, 

 the works of Michael Angelo, in the Sistine chapel, 

 and finally, the inimitable productions of the divine 

 Raphael in the Vatican. He was left to pass the day 

 there with bread and water, and in the evening his 

 studies were examined with the greatest severity. 

 In 1744, his father returned with him to Dresden, 

 and Augustus soon after appointed him court-painter. 

 A second visit to Rome was occupied in renewing 

 his former studies, studying anatomy, &c. His first 

 great compositions appeared in 1748, and met with 

 universal admiration. A holy family was particu- 

 larly admired; and the young peasant girl who served 

 him as a model became his wife. On his return to 

 Dresden the king appointed him principal court- 

 painter. In 1751, he was engaged to paint the altar- 

 piece for the Catholic chapel, with leave to execute 

 it in Rome. At this time, he made a copy of Ra- 

 phael's School of Athens for the duke of Northum- 

 berland. The seven years' war deprived him of his 

 pension, and, in 1754, he received the direction of 

 the new academy of painting in the Capitol. In 1757, 

 the Celestines employed him to paint the ceiling of 

 the church of St Eusebius, his first fresco. He soon 

 after painted, for cardinal Albani, the Parnassus in 

 his villa, and executed various oil paintings. In 

 1761, Charles III. invited Mengs to Spain, where 

 his principal works at this time were an assembly of 

 the gods and a descent from the cross. Returning 

 to Rome, he executed a great allegorical fresco 

 painting for the pope, in the camera de' papiri, and, 

 after three years, returned to Madrid. At this time, 

 he executed the apotheosis of Trajan, in fresco, his 

 finest work. He died in Rome, in 1779, leaving 

 seven children, thirteen having died previously. His 

 expensive manner of living, and his collections of 

 drawings of masters, vases, engravings, &c., had 

 absorbed all his gains, although during the last 

 eighteen years he had received 180,000 scudi. A 

 splendid monument was erected to his memory by his 

 friend the cavalier d'Azara, at the side of Raphael, 

 and another by the empress of Russia, in St Peter's. 

 Mengs's composition and grouping is simple, noble, 

 and studied ; his drawing correct and ideal ; his ex- 

 pression, in which Raphael was his model, and his 

 colouring, in every respect, are excellent. His works 

 are finished with the greatest care. His writings, in 

 different languages (published, in Italian, by Azara, 

 1783), particularly his Remarks on Correggio, Ra- 

 phael, and Titian, are highly instructive. H is friend, 

 the celebrated Winckelmann, rendered him valuable 



