MAC 
putation lies upon his charafler. Upon this, he entered 
the Francifcan order in the reformed province of St. An¬ 
tonio. The Braganzan revolution broke out; and Ma- 
cedo, efpoufing the patriotic fide, as indeed the monadic 
orders had always done, was called to political labours, 
and vifited Rome, Paris, and London, with the embafla- 
dors of Joam IV. 
As he advanced in years, he retired to Rome, where 
he was appointed profeflbr of ecclefialtical hiftory, theolo¬ 
gical cenfor to the inquifition, and mejlre da Controverjia, as 
the Portuguese call it, in the college de Propaganda Fide. 
PI ere he was in high favour with the pope ; but forfeited 
it for refuting to expunge a word in an epitaph written 
upon a fervant of his holinefs. At Rome, and afterwards 
at Venice, he difputed for three days de omni fcibili ; and, 
encouraged by his fuccefs in this latter city, another At¬ 
las, lays Barbofa, though without Herculean aid, he fuf- 
tained for eight days the weight of the celebrated difputes 
called Leonis SanBi Marti Rugitus Litterarii, Thefe difputes 
commenced September 26, 1667, in the following order, 
r. DoClrine, verfions and interpretations of the Holy 
Scriptures, old and new. 2. Series, fucceflion, and au¬ 
thority, of the popes and councils. 3. Ecclefialtical hif¬ 
tory, from Adam to the then prefent time. 4. Hiftory 
and do&rines of the fathers, Greek and Latin, more par¬ 
ticularly St. Auguftine. 5. Moral and fpeculative philo¬ 
sophy and theology, according to the three fchools of Aqui¬ 
nas’, Scotus, and Soares of Granada. 6. Canon and civil 
law ; and Greek, Latin, and Italian, hiftory, particularly 
that of Venice. 7. Rhetoric. 8. Poetry, and the modes 
of verfification of the Greeks, Romans, Italians, Spani¬ 
ards, and French. To all his opponents he replied rea¬ 
dily and without embarrafi'ment, correcting their mifquo- 
tations and confuting their arguments; and he crowned 
the whole by reciting a thoufand extempore verfes,and an 
epigram in praife of the city of Venice ; which epigram 
was by order of the republic written under his picture, 
and placed in St. Mark’s library. This walking cyclopae¬ 
dia could repeat the whole of Auguftine’s works with 
Rich perfect accuracy, that, if any forged paflage was re¬ 
cited to him, however excellent in imitation, he could 
immediately deteCt it. 
This fertile genius died in 1681, at the great age of 
eighty-live. We may be well excufed from tranfcribing 
the titles of thirty-one manufcripts, and 106 printed works, 
upon biography, martyrology, theology, and genealogy, 
beatifications, canonizations and commemorations, ora¬ 
tions and deputations. Of thofe which remain in manu- 
icript a Latin verfion of Camoens is the mod important ; 
it was the labour of nine months, a timely and perfect 
birth, fays Barbofa, neither abortive nor milhapen. For 
MaCedo this rnuft be regarded as a work of extraordinary 
patience, for, befides the 137 works which are fpecified by 
the bibliographer, he recited publicly fifty-three panegy¬ 
rics, fixty Latin orations, thirty-two funeral poems, and 
forty-eight epic poems; epic he calls them himfelf, and 
the name has often been given to pieces of inconfiderable 
length. Moreover he wrote 123 elegies, 115 epitaphs, 
dedicatory epiftles, 700 familiar epiftles, 2600 heroic poems, 
no odes, 3000 epigrams, four Latin comedies, and one 
Spanifn fat ire. He himfelf eftimated the number of verfes 
which he had written at 1,500,000. And of this prodigi¬ 
ous number nobody reads a fingle line ! Macedo, how¬ 
ever, has among ana-makers the fame fort of celebrity 
that the Dutch countefs has with our old travellers for hav¬ 
ing had 365 children at a birth. Gen. Biog . 
MAC'EDON, or Macedonia, a celebrated kingdom 
of antiquity, was bounded on theeaft by the FEgean Sea;, 
on the fouth by Theflaly and Epirus; on the weft by the 
Ionian Sea, or Adriatic ; on the north, at firft by the river 
Strymen and the Scardian mountain.*, but afterwards by 
the river Neffus, or Neltus. According to M. de rifle’s 
map of Greece, the extent of Macedonia from north to 
fouth was about 160 miles, and from weft to eaft about 
220. its form was very irregular.; but its fituation was 
E D O N. 15 
excellent, its fit ores being wafhed by the iEgean and Ionian 
feas ; but thefe advantages with regard to navigation and 
commerce were never well improved ; as the Macedonians 
were never powerful at fea, notwithftanding the many no¬ 
ble bays and excellent harbours which their coaft afforded. 
Among the moil confiderable mountains of this country, 
we may reckon the great ridge, which traverfed the north¬ 
ern part, called the Scardian mountains. In this part alfo 
was fituated Mount Pagseus, which was lofty and well co¬ 
vered with wood, and which was more valuable on account, 
of its mines of gold and filver. From Thrace it was di¬ 
vided by mount Hsemus, which towards the weft joined 
the Scardian hills. Athos, in the Chalcidian region, 
was one of the moil celebrated mountains in the world, 
Olympus was allb another mountain, that was fo lofty as 
to reach almoft the confines of heaven, whence the poets 
took the liberty of making it the feat of the gods. The 
Scardian hills and mount Athos were well covered with 
woods ; and, indeed the whole kingdom of Macedonia, 
being every where intermixed with mountains and rifing 
grounds, abounded with all forts of trees, that were va¬ 
luable on account either of timber, fruit, or Iliade. • The 
feas that adjoined it were the Adriatic, which afforded fe- 
veral fafe ports, befides the great haven of Epidamnus, 
now Durazzo; and the FEgean fea, which opened to this 
country not only the trade of Greece, but that of Afia. 
Its bays were fpacious, and four of them were efpecially 
remarkable; viz. Sinus Strymonicus, which er.clofed in 
its bofom the ifland of Thafus, and is now called Golfo 
di Contefla; Sinus Singiticus, having on one fide mount 
Athos, and on the other a long flip of land, once full 
of rich and populous towns, now ityled Golfo di Monte 
Santo ; Sinus Toronaicus, having the ridge of land juft 
mentioned on one fide, and part of the region Paraxia on 
the other, now called Golfo di Aiomama; arid Sinus Ther- 
niffius, fixty miles in length, now called the Gulf of Salo- 
nichi. Of the rivers of Macedonia, thofe that fell into 
the Adriatic were the Panyafus, the Apfus, the Laous, 
called alfo FEas and Aous, and Celydnus or Pepylichus, 
which is considered as the boundary between Macedon 
and Epirus. The rivers that discharged themfeves into 
the FEgean fea were the Aliacmon, the Erigon, the Axius, 
and theStrymon, the ancient boundary between Macedon 
and Thrace, but, fince the time of Philip, this boundary 
has been the Nelfus. As to the lakes of Macedonia, be”'- 
fides thofe formed by the overflowing of the river Strymon, 
and the junction of the rivers Axius and Erigon, there is 
almoft in the centre of the country, not far from the Can- 
davian mountains, a large and famous lake called the lake 
ofLychnidus, or the lake of Prefpa. There is alfoanother 
lake in the province of Mygdonia ; and a third near the an¬ 
cient city of Sintia, called afterwards Heraclea Sintica. 
The climate was falubrious, and favourable to longevity 5 
the foil was generally fertile, efpecially on the fea-coaft, pro¬ 
ducing in abundance corn, wine, and oil; but the principal- 
riches of Macedonia confided in its mines of almoft all 
kinds of metals, but more particularly of gold and filver; 
but thefe, though wrought fucceflively by the Thafians 
and the Athenians, were only brought to perfection by 
Philip of Macedon, who extracted from them gold and 
filver to the value of 200,000!. (lerling annually. The 
Romans, when they reduced Macedonia into a province, 
re ft rained the inhabitants from digging or refining gold 
or filver, but left them at liberty with regard to any other 
metal. In ancient times Macedonia abounded with horfes 
above all the other countries of Greece: three hundred 
ftallions, and 30,000 mares, were kept in the royal ftud 
near Pella. The inland part of the country was beau¬ 
tifully diverfified with fhady hills and fountains; and fo 
admirably calculated for folitary walks and retirement, 
that the ancients looked upon it to be the favourite haunt 
of the Mufes, and accordingly beftowed upon them the 
title of Pierides. 
In the molt early times this country was called jEmatAia* 
from dbmatkius one of its princes. The name of Macedon 
33 
