an extensive district of Hindustan, in the Southern Carnatic, situated chiefly between the ninth and tenth degrees of north latitude. It was annexed in 1742 to the dominions of the nabob of the Carnatic, and in 1801 came into the possession of the British. It is bounded on the north by the Polygar territory and Dindigul, on the south by Tinevelly, on the east by the district of Marawas, and on the west by that of Dindigul. The Vaygaroo and Candarao are the chief rivers, and the principal owns Madura and Scholavanden. It has a tolerably fertile soil, and is well supplied with water; but its cultivation has always been inferior to that of Tanjore, which was probably owing to the warlike habits of the Zemindars and Polygars, living in castles surrounded with woods, in a constant state of war with each other. The name of the capital is Madura, which is an ancient city of the Southern Carnatic, the four sides of which front nearly the four cardinal points. It was formerly well fortified with a ditch, rampart, and square towers, and from 1740 to 1760 sustained many sieges, and was often in possession of refractory Polygars. Since it has come into the possession of the British, the peace of the country has been firmly maintained, so that it is now quite superfluous to keep up this or any other fortress. The travelling distance from Seringupatam is 240 miles, and from Madras 307 miles. Long. 78. 13. E. Lat. 9. 51. N.

an island in the Eastern Seas, situated off the north coast of the island of Java, from which it is separated by the Strait of Madura, which is a hundred miles in length by sixteen in average breadth. The channel at its narrowest part is only eighty-three fathoms wide, and is marked by buoys. There is a depth of only three fathoms at the entrance, which can easily be passed by ships of a large size, the bottom being of a soft mud, through which a vessel is carried by the slightest breeze, aided by the current, which is strong. The inhabitants resemble the Hindus in their appearance, and worship their divinities, namely, Indra, Surya, and Vishnu. The inhabitants of the interior are rude and barbarous. They attack their enemies with poisoned arrows, which they blow through a tube. The Dutch invaded and subdued this island in 1747, and made slaves of a great number of them. Long. 112. 54. E. Lat. 6. 44. to 7. 15. S.

MÆANDER, in Ancient Geography, a celebrated river of Asia Minor, rising near Celense. It flows through Caria and Ionia into the Ægean Sea between Miletus and Priene, after having been increased by the waters of the Marsyas, Lycus, Eudon, Lethæus, and other tributaries. It is celebrated amongst the poets for its windings, which amount to no less than six hundred, and from which all recurring sinuosities have received the name of maanders.

MÆATÆ, anciently a people of Britain, near the wall of Severus, inhabiting the district now called Lauderdale, in Scotland.

MACENAS, Caius Cilnius, the friend and counselor of Augustus Caesar, a man whose name has become a synonyme for a patron of literature, from the magnificent and generous support he afforded to the learned. He flourished from about 41 to 8 B.C. He was very generally considered by the ancients as descended from the royal line of Etruria. The family of the Cilii is mentioned by Livy (x. 3) as very powerful at Arretium, now Arezzo, B.C. 300. We have no account of the early years of Macenas, but there is little doubt that his education was carefully attended to, and becoming the dignity of his birth. In what way he acquired the friendship of Octavius we have no means of knowing; but we find him actively engaged in his cause immediately after the murder of Julius Caesar, B.C. 44. His talents seem to have been particularly adapted for the administration of the civil affairs of government, and we find him more frequently thus engaged than in the active business of war. He was employed (B.C. 40) to negotiate the marriage between Augustus and Scribonia, the sister of Scribonius Libo, the father-in-law of Sextus Pompey, with the view of securing a channel by which he might obtain peace with Pompey if circumstances should require it (Appian. B.C. v. 53). The same year Macenas was one of the commissioners appointed to negotiate the peace between Antony and Octavius at Brundusium, which was sealed by the marriage of Octavia and Antony (v. 64). He was again the principal person employed in the conference between Octavius and Antony (B.C. 37), on the banks of the river between Metapontum and Tarentum, when peace was agreed upon (v. 92). He had the command of the whole of Italy and Rome at the time of the battle of Actium, B.C. 31, at which period he put down a conspiracy entered into by Lepidus the son of the triumvir (iv. 50; Vell. Pat. ii. 88). The victory at Actium having placed the Roman empire in the hands of Octavius, he consulted with his friends, Agrippa and Macenas, whether he ought not to abdicate his authority. Agrippa advised him to restore the republic, but Macenas was of a contrary opinion. The speeches which they each delivered are given by Dion Cassius (411, 1-40). Augustus adopted the opinion of Macenas, and was guided in all his more important transactions by his advice, having confidence not only in his good sense and discretion, but in the integrity of his character. To Macenas therefore may, in a great measure, be ascribed the glory of his reign. After his death, Augustus frequently regretted that he had no longer a friend to assist him; and when he had committed any act of Macenas which he repented, he used to say, that if Macenas or Agrippa had been alive, he would not have had cause to reproach himself for the folly of his conduct (Sen. De Brevi. vi. 32). It is said that Macenas one day observed Augustus on the point of condemning some persons to death, and being unable to approach the tribunal on account of the crowd, he threw a paper to him, on which he had inscribed these words, "Descend from the tribunal, thou butcher," upon which Augustus, struck by the admonition, left the judgment-seat without passing sentence. The palace of Macenas was on the Esquiline Hill, and his gardens are frequently mentioned as occupying the ground which had been previously employed as the place of burial for the poor (Tacit. Ann. xv. 39). It is, however, to his generous patronage of the learned that he is principally indebted for his fame; and their gratitude has amply repaid all the attention he may have bestowed on them. His palace was the common resort of all the literary characters of his age. There might be found Virgil and Horace, Varus, famed for his tragedies, Propertius, Domitius Marsus the rival of Catullus, Valginius, Plotius, and Tucca. It was through Macenas that the learned had access to the emperor, and were loaded with his favours. Horace gives a very interesting account of his introduction to Macenas, which must have taken place as early as B.C. 40, when both the poet and Macenas were still young. To Macenas Horace was indebted for his Sabine farm; and Virgil was through him restored to his paternal estate, near Mantua. Virgil dedicated the Georgics to his patron; and to him Propertius has dedicated several of his poems. It is needless to add, that much of the poetry of Horace was also addressed to him. Macenas has been accused, however, of being devoted to pleasure; but his faults were those of the age in which he lived, and his virtues were his own (Senec. Epist. 92, 114). Virgil died many years before Macenas, B.C. 19; but whether Horace predeceased Macenas or not is uncertain. Horace died in the month of November B.C. 8 (Sueton.) ; and Dion Cassius (41, 3) mentions the death of Macenas towards the close of the same year. The clause in the will of Macenas, in which he recommends to Augustus his friend Horace, would lead us to conclude that Horace survived him. At all events, only a few months could have intervened between their deaths. He was married to Terentia, a woman of a disagreeable temper, from whom he frequently separated; but found his happiness so dependent on her smiles, that he soon received her back to his arms (Sen. De Prose. 3). Pliny states that the health of Macenas was at times delicate; and that for the last three years of his life he scarcely enjoyed an hour's sleep (vii. 52, 2). Of the writings of Macenas we have nothing remaining except a few epigrams, which are published in the Anthologia Latina of Barnmann (i. 53, ii. 225, iii. 149). He was also the author of two tragedies, Prometheus and Octavia; and is supposed to have written Memoirs to serve for the history of Augustus. (See Fabricius, Bibliotheca Latina, iii. 964; De Macenatis Vitâ, Moribus, et Reliquiâ Gestis, auct. Melbourn. Lugd. Bat.1653; Lion, Macenatiana, Götting. 1824; Mémoires de l'Acad. des Inscrip. xiii.)