M A C 
MAC 
young, was fo remarkable for his philofophic gravity and 
feverity of manners,, that the monks ufunlly called him 
the young old man. About the age of thirty he withdrew 
from the world, and ten years afterwards was ordained 
prieft. Including the period laft mentioned, he fpent fixty 
years in monafteries, or cells, on Mount Sceta, in Libya, 
and in the deferts of Nitria, prafVifing the greateft aulte- 
rities, and treating with peculiar roughnefs thofe who 
broke in upon his folitude. Notwithftanding his furly 
manners, he was held in the higheft reverence, on account 
of his reputation for extraordinary fanftity ; and the le¬ 
gends of the church abound in relations of his miracles 
and prophecies. Socrates fays, that he healed fo many 
lick perfons, and cured fuch numbers of thofe who were 
polfelfed by devils, that a recital of his miracles of this 
kind would of itfelf form a volume. Palladius, in his 
H/Jloria Laujiaca , has furnifhed the credulous or the cu¬ 
rious reader "with an ample lift of them. Macarius is 
thought to have died in 391, when about the ninetieth 
year of his age. To him the greaternumber of critics 
attribute fifty Homilies, perfectly adapted to the tafte of 
myftics, and containing the fubftance of afcetic divinity. 
They were firft publifhed in Greek at Paris, in 1559, 8vo. 
afterwards at Frankfort, with a Latin tranflation, by Za¬ 
chary Palthenius, 1594, 8vo. and in 1622 they were pub- 
lilhed at Paris, together with the works of St. Gregory 
Thaumaturgus, and St. Bafil of Seleucia, in folio. The 
fame genius, notions, and ftyle, afford ftrong internal evi- 
dertce that to the fame author we are to afcribe feven finall 
■sradfs “ On watching the Heart, Perfection of Mind, 
Prayer,” See. publifhed in Greek and Latin in Pouftine’s 
Tkefaurus Afceticus, 1684, 4to. But the belt edition of all 
the pieces attributed to Macarius is that publifhed at 
Leipfic in 1698, by George Pritius, 8vo. in Greek and Latin, 
with the text of the former carefully revifed, the Latin 
verfion amended,and extracts fubjoined from Palladius and 
Caflian. Socrat. HiJI. Eccl. lib. iv. Sozomen. Cave's Hifl. Lit. 
MACA'RIUS (St.), called the Younger, another famous 
Egyptian monk, the contemporary and friend of the pre¬ 
ceding, was born at Alexandria, and in early life followed 
the trade of a confectioner. He alfo became a difciple of 
St. Anthony ; and, having renounced his occupation and 
the city,, withdrew into the deferts of Nitria, where he 
embraced the monaftic life. At the age of forty lie was 
baptized ; after which he was ordained prieft, and made 
archimandrite of Nitria. He is faid to have praCtifed the 
aufterities of monaftic difeipline with fuch rigour, that, 
from the exceffive drynefs of his (kin, no hair would grow 
upon him. He differed from the elder Macarius in this 
refpeCt, that he received all who came to vifit him with 
a cheerful countenance; and, by his pleafing converfation 
and winning courtefy, induced numbers of young men to 
become monks : of fuch religious he is reported ro have 
had nearly five thoufand under his direction. Of his 
fanffity, virtues, and abftinence, w'onders are related by 
Palladius, in the treatife referred to in our preceding ar¬ 
ticle ; and he alfo is celebrated in the annals of catholic 
church hiltory, for the numerous and aftonifhing miracles 
which he performed. He died about 404, when he is faid 
to have been in the hundredth year of his age. To him 
are attributed, Rules for Monks, in thirty chapters, which 
were firft publifhed in Latin by Peter Roverius, thejefuit, 
in his Hiftory of the Abbey of Becco; and are inferted in 
the Codex Regularum of Benedict, abbot of Aniane. Some 
critics, however, have doubted refpeCt ing his claims to 
them ; and Cave is rather difpofed to confider them as a 
compilation from the regulations of Macarius and other 
afcetics, by fome unknown hand. In that learned wri¬ 
ter’s work referred to above, the reader may meet with a 
difeourfe in Greek and Latin, extracted from a manufeript 
in the Pauline library at Leipfic, “ Concerning the Sepa¬ 
ration of Souls from the Bodies of the Righteous and the 
Wicked, and their Condition after the prefent Life,” 
which, though abounding in abfurd and idle fables, will 
afford fome gratification to his curiofity. It has been 
? 
aferibed to Macarius; but is more probably the produc¬ 
tion of a much later writer. Cave, ut fupra. 
MACA'RIUS (Defert of St.) a delert on the weft part 
of Egypt, denominated in honour of the above faint, to 
whofe honour a convent of monks has been founded, 
anciently called Nitria. The convent is about fifty miles 
north-north-weft of Cairo. 
MACARO'NI, f. This word, fays Mr. Mafon, (Suppl. 
to Johnfon’s Did.) derives from the Italian, and fignifies 
an egregious fop. But does it follow, that the term can 
with propriety be thus applied, if it has no fuch mean¬ 
ing in the literature of the Italians? 
From macco, peafe-pudding, comes maccheroni, (in the 
dialet’t of Naples, macaroni ,) the name of a yellowifh pafte 
made of the flour of faragolla, one of the many Sicilian 
varieties of wheat, by fqueezing it in a moift (fate through 
a wooden colander, or pierced cylinder, the orifices'of 
which have in the centre a wire or fkewer, which tubu¬ 
lates the extruded dough. The pafte breaks off in flaccid 
pipes, about a fpan long, and when dried in the air will 
keep for many years : fteeped in hot gravy, and (trowed 
with ferapings of Parmefan cheefe, it is a favourite di(h 
in Italy : nor is it unknown in London by the fiune 
name. The water expreffed in making maccheroni is re¬ 
markably turbid and fluggifh ; hence the Italian proverb. 
Pin grojjo dell' acqita dei maccheroni, which is applied to a 
fluggifti rtupid intellect. Macchcrone, too, fays the Voca¬ 
bulary Della Crufca, is ufed for a dullard, a blockhead : 
as in Englilh one fays, a brain of dough. Donne the fatirift 
writes, “ In dougk-bak'd men fome harmleffnefs we fee;” 
and ufes in a fimilar fenfe the word in queltion j 
I figh and fwear 
To hear this macaroon talk on in vain. 
How then can the modern abufe of the word be accounted 
for ? On the Mole at Naples, the phrafe, Cazzo di macarone, 
which is in faCt piCturefque, may be heard among tire 
failors : it is flung againft fuch as are fuppofed “to want 
vigour when put to the fliift.” By fome fea-faring people 
the words, no doubt, were brought to England, and ap¬ 
plied, with decent abbreviation,to thofe foplings of fafhion, 
thofe would-be bloods, whom the fons of Neptune are ac- 
cuftomed to defpife. 
Macaroni then means, (1.) a tubulated pafte ufed rn. 
cookery ; (2.) a lluggifn -minded man ; in this fenfe it is 
obfolete ; (3.) a i\ugg\lh-bodied man, a feeble libertine, a 
pretended rake, a (ham debauchee, a fop; in this fenfe it. 
is not a very decorous word. A very ingenious friend 
and correfpondent forms the word from p.axajj, happy or 
bleffed, and 01>0?, an afs; a macaroni being an afs happy 
in his own conceit. * 
MACARO'NI, adj. Belonging to a fantaftie mode of 
drefs, fuited to a fop. 
MACARO'NIAN, adj. Macaronic. Dicl. of Arts. 
MACARO'NIC, adj. [from the Italian macarone . ] Be¬ 
longing to a corrupted ftyle; compofed of diffimilar parts. 
MACARO'NIC,/ A jumble of words of different lan¬ 
guages; a corruption in ftyle by introducing the termina¬ 
tions and idioms of one language into another. 
Macaroni, among the Italians, as has been obferved by 
Caelius Rhodiginus, fignifies a coarfe clownith man ; and, 
becaufe this kind of poetry is patched out of feveral lan¬ 
guages, and full of extravagant words, &c. the Italians, 
among whom it had its rife, gave it the name of macaro- 
nian or macaronic poetry. Others choofe to derive it 
from macaroons, a kind of confection made of meal not 
boulted, fweet almonds, fugar, and the white of ep-o-s, 
accounted a great dainty among the country people m 
Italy ; which, from their being compofed of various in¬ 
gredients, occafioned this kind of poetry, which confifts 
of Latin, Italian, Spanifh, French, English, &c. to be called 
by that name. 
Example. A bold fellow in the macaronic ftyle, fays 
“ Enfilavi omnes fcadrones et regitnandos,” Sec. 
Another example j. 
Archebs 
