=Mithrida´tes=, surnamed "Eupator" and "The Great," succeeded to the throne of Pontus when eleven years of age. The beginning of his reign was marked by ambition and cruelty. At an early age he inured himself to hardships by devoting himself to manly exercises, and sleeping in the open air on the bare earth. He was constantly engaged in warfare against the Romans, and his contests with them are known as the Mithridatic wars. His hatred of the Romans was so great that, to destroy their power, he ordered all of them that were in his dominions to be massacred, and in one night 150,000, according to Plutarch, or 80,000, according to another authority, were slaughtered. This cruel act called for revenge, and great armies were sent against him. After varied fortunes Mithridates had to succumb to Pompey, and, worn out with misfortune, attempted to poison himself, but unsuccessfully, as the numerous antidotes to poison which in early life he had taken strengthened his constitution to resist the effect. He then ordered one of his soldiers to give him the fatal blow with a sword, which was done. He died about sixty-three years before the Christian era, in his seventy-second year. He is said to have been the most formidable opponent the Romans ever had, and Cicero estimates him as the greatest monarch that ever sat upon a throne. It is recorded of him that he conquered twenty-four nations, whose different languages he knew and spoke fluently. There were a number of persons of the same name, but of inferior note. =Mnemos´yne.= A daughter of Coelus and Terra, mother of the nine Muses. Jupiter assumed the form of a shepherd in order to enjoy her company. =Mo´mus=, the god of mirth amongst the ancients, according to Hesiod, was the son of Nox. He amused himself by satirizing the gods by turning into ridicule whatever they did. =Mor´pheus.= A minister of the god Somnus, who imitated very naturally the gestures, words, and manners of mankind. He is sometimes called the god of sleep. He is generally represented as a sleeping child, of great corpulence, with wings. =Mos´chus.= A Greek Bucolic poet in the age of Ptolemy Philadelphus. His eclogues are characterized by sweetness and elegance, and are said to be equal in merit to the productions of Theocritus. =Mure´na.= A celebrated Roman who invaded the dominions of Mithridates, at first with success, but afterwards he met with defeat. He was honored with a triumph on his return to Rome. =Mu´sæ.= The Muses, certain goddesses who presided over poetry, music, dancing, and all the liberal arts. They were daughters of Jupiter and Mnemosyne, and were nine in number, Clio, Euterpe, Thalia, Melpomene, Terpsichore, Erato, Polyhymnia, Calliope, and Urania. =Myce´næ.= A town of Argolis, said to have been built by Perseus. It received its name from Mycene, a nymph of Laconia. It was taken and destroyed by the Argives.